Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Nanami Touko]

The boom was heavy, unexpected, and incredibly aggravating. All the lead they'd gained had immediately dissolved. Eva was trying hard not to blame anyone, but she'd severely wished that the group had gone a different way than her when flying out of the fort. "<Yes, going back. He took one of ours. She's more important than you. And if we can negotiate something, your life's worth it.>" Eva grunted again, glad that the knights had either followed her bark or stopped of their own accord. Either way, she had Sasha fly past them, moving up towards Sonya... Maybe they could catch her before she made it to the base. Things weren't looking like it.

[Toogee]

Danger Zone

Capitalizing on her momentum, and another massive burst of anima that decimated the landscape just in front of her, Sonya pulled up at a steep seventy degree angle, and rose hundreds of feet above the trees in a matter of seconds. She hadn't waited more than a second or two after Kozel had physically grabbed Jamilla before doing so, which forced the 'skotian warrior to mind his balance and control his breathing to withstand turbulent ascent. His armored boot pressed hard against the dragon's crown, and he was instantly brought to one knee as his body's weight increased over half a dozen times over.

Isis had no hope of following Sonya into that climb, and Haythem wasn't even going to consider trying it. Instead, he had her bank to the right and try to turn around. He also made a point of getting her to ascend as well, though at a safer and more stable angle. There was always a chance Jamilla could wind up falling, and if she did, their best chance of catching her would be to have some room for free falling, as well.

"We'll follow her from below, but I'm not sure if we can catch up," Haythem informed his passengers.

"Just try to keep up," Amon said, "but don't get too close." Leverage or no, they weren't going to lose Jamilla here, not after the brutal battle they had just survived.

Kozel could see the chase below instantly dissolve ... or perhaps reverse.. <"Heh, that worked. Fast, too."> He glanced at the girl he had plucked from the massive wyvern. "I have questions for you, mercenary girl. It's been a long day, so please, humor me," he said, casually, though with a well managed undercurrent of irritation. <"Sonya, stay above them, and head back to the base,"> he quickly ordered as the rapid ascent continued.

Jam took note of the rapid ascent, the wind blowing down upon her. She definitely wouldn't survive the fall. That left her firmly in the (physical) hands of Kozel. Yet the dancer could see Eva approaching, with Haythem trying to keep up. Her friends were coming; that was enough to give her the strength to resist.

"Funny, I got a fistful of magic for your face," Jam said with much sass. "Maybe we can make a trade? One question for one slap. Here, the first one's free!"

Jam's hand glowed bright as she wound up to smack Kozel in the face. She sincerely hoped she would leave scar as a memento.

[Phoenix]

Best Laid Plans

"Urgh, well there goes my plan," Carlos muttered under his breath. He supposed that he probably had better chances of surviving this situation without harming any of the wyvern knights, anyway. Still, this kind of resistance wasn't going to make the 'skotian commander particularly agreeable.

<"Slow down,"> one of the wyvern knights called over, <"Do not approach the commander,"> he demanded.

Mile High Fight Club

"I am not the one to get into a slap fight with, girl," Kozel warned, winding back with his fist, though with practiced form and a forearm wrapped in invisible anima. If a cordial discussion was out of the question, then he was clearly willing to knock her silly and send her back to the mercenaries unconscious once the Lieutenant finished negotiating with them. "Cooperate, or you're going to wake up sometime tomorrow, either in your own camp, or ours."

<"Can't see what's going on up there,"> Haythem said, too angry to speak in common. Sonya's ascent was slowing, now, but she'd gone up so high, so quickly, that there was no longer a clear view of Kozel or Jamilla from where they were.

"Keep climbing," Amon instructed, "we'll figure something out."

"No you won't," came a female wyvern knight's voice. It was the one from before. She seemed intent on keeping their attention. "The commander isn't going to just let you fly over and take her back. You mercenaries are dealing with me, now, if you want her returned unharmed. That is, unless you'd prefer to simply fight us." Haythem wasn't sure if she was actually trying to negotiate for Jamilla's safe release at first, but that seemed to be what it was. What did they want, though, and why?

Divvy Up

Thinking back to when she'd first met him, Cameron realized that he'd been in much better shape after the dragon had tossed him into the kiosk and destroyed the thing in the process. "There's enough for both of us. At least make sure none of your wounds are still open or bleeding," she insisted, uncorking the bottle and stepping closer to the Crusher.

"So assuming we have to move before that Fizza woman gets back," Darcey began, "How should we divide up the riders?"

"Maybe one at a time?" One of the rider put in, "if even one of us manages to draw off two of them then the last one's free and clear."

[Mercakete]

Well, I guess that's fair. "Just make sure you have enough in case you or your pegasus needs it," Norbert cautioned as he carefully leaned his poleaxe against the stall.

Hand free, he reached over to his other arm, which had a lot more blood on it than his right. Gingerly, he pulled at his sleeve some to obviate the gash between the ball of his shoulder and his left triceps. Thankfully, the blade hadn't cut into or broken the bone, but it did stop there. "This is the biggest one and it's probably going to be the one that gets in the way the most if I have to fight. My arm's getting numb... I can't tell if it's the one that's bleeding the most, though." He grimaced, pausing for a moment before saying, "It's hard for me to reach it. I'll keep my sleeve out of the way, if you'll help me apply it. But I can treat it myself if you think planning with the others would be better. I appreciate what you've already done for me."

[Nanami Touko]

"I am actually sorry, Carlos. I didn't expect Kozel to be a master earth mage. But as far as caring goes, I care about Jam a whole lot more than you." But I truly am sorry we have to stick you with these beasts of men... Ignoring the wyvern knights as best as she could, Eva was about to shout back at them, before she saw another knight had approached Isis. Her armor painted her as more important. "<Oi! You!>" She quit driving straight for Kozel, getting Sasha closer to Isis and the exchange. "<Here's Carlos, so get your idiot to drop Jam, and take him! He's what you want right?>"

Edited February 9, 2016 by Snake Mom

[-Cynthia-]

<"We ain't in shape to fight right now. Gotta negotiate then I guess,"> Nadya said in Rexian, presuming that was not a common tongue for bandits or...whoever these people were. Really hopin' they're not after gold...that'll be difficult.

[KentaEzren]

Kenta had kept pondering, until he noticed something. "Strange, there's a little mark on the map, and i can read it clearly. I don't even know this language."

[Toogee]

Mile High Fight Club

"I am not the one to get into a slap fight with, girl," Kozel warned, winding back with his fist, though with practiced form and a forearm wrapped in invisible anima. If a cordial discussion was out of the question, then he was clearly willing to knock her silly and send her back to the mercenaries unconscious once the Lieutenant finished negotiating with them. "Cooperate, or you're going to wake up sometime tomorrow, either in your own camp, or ours."

Jam wasn't sure whether she'd be waking up in his camp anyways. Thinking about her next move, there wasn't an escape plan that ended with her landing safely on the ground. Though she lowered her hand, her sass remained.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with. We've fought a shadow dragon before, and we're still here! You couldn't hope to defeat us with an army twice this size!"

The dancer's boasts were a sort of coping mechanism. She was pulling out whatever story came to her head. Ironically, she came to their encounter with Schwartz. Ironic because she was starting to feel pretty much the same as that day.

[Phoenix]

Terms

"No hard feelings," Carlos barely managed a shrug as he dangled in Sasha's grip, "but you really should be careful. These guys don't like doing business on anyone's terms but their own. That's likely why they took your friend in the first place. Best to slow down and think before you do anything drastic."

The lieutenant eyed the approaching wyvern rider in confusion. She glanced back up at the distant Sonya and the specs that were her passengers and wondered just who Kozel had nabbed to make the mercenaries turn back around and practically hurl Carlos at them to have her back. She supposed if they were that eager to be rid of him without any money being exchanged, then so be it, but she wasn't going to allow these mercenaries to throw Carlos at them and then ambush the commander to get their girl back. It would only enrage Kozel and start a meaningless battle. <"Watch it, merc,"> she called over as she arrived. She flew in a wide circle around Sasha and signaled for the other three wyverns to get after Sonya. <"The commander didn't have to authorize a trade at all."> He likely wouldn't have if she hadn't thought of it first, she mused.

Agenda

"I might be impressed if Schwartz was dead," Kozel said, disinterestedly, "but since he isn't, I can only imagine that by 'fought a shadow dragon,' you meant 'flailed about' until he decided to leave. It doesn't matter. I need you to stay with me for a little while, just until we've gotten Carlos back. Then you can go. We're willing to pay you his bounty if it saves us the headache of having to kill you all, but he's not leaving here with your people. That isn't negotiable."

Help

Cameron hadn't even considered standing by and watching as Norbert struggled to apply the vulnerary to his wounds. She was moving into position to start applying the salve as soon as he had offered to let her do it. "I'll take care of it," she said, carefully looking the first wound over. It wasn't pretty. What he really needed was a healer ...

[Toogee]

Jam was disappointed that Kozel knew exactly what she was talking about. She was even more disappointed upon hearing the reasoning behind her kidnapping.

"All of this so you could price match the Ursians?" Jam said incredulously. "Why didn't you just lead with that? Now you're gonna be paying extra: I charge handling fees."

A little bit of Greta was rubbing off of Jam, though she wasn't exactly in a position to negotiate. Still, the mercs had something of a trump card: as much as the Wrathites wanted the mercenaries, she imagined they would be less happy with the Neviskotians. If only they could get those two armies together and deal with each other. The trip to Kigen would be that much smoother...

[Nanami Touko]

"I'll think plenty when my friend's in danger," she said, but maybe her version of being careful and thinking was different from Carlos'. Either way, this woman was acting a bit too big for her britches, Eva thought. "<But he did, so don't try to act like you're tough shit! He's the only one I'm afraid of, not you, and definitely not your light tossing comrades. If Kozel wasn't around and you forced a fight, I can promise we'd come out on top... So you'd best hide behind him while you can.>" Kozel wasn't stopping, so Eva kept following after him. "Come on, Haythem... Looks like he wants to stretch this." She didn't know if he could hear her over the wind and the flapping of all the wings. All she was really concentrated on was getting Jam back before something happened to her. The last thing Eva wanted to see was the girl's body falling, either full of life or dead, straight towards the treeline.

[Mercakete]

Norbert did his part, just as he said he would, keeping the tear in his sleeve open for Cameron. As he did, he kept an ear open on how the plan was proceeding. If the Ursaean pegasus knights wanted his help, he was willing to offer it. This patch job would hopefully go well enough that he'd be able to do something, even if it was trying to guide the pegasus knights who didn't have pegasi through the bandits' minefield.

Really, right now, he just wanted to take things one step at a time. Things were moving too quickly for that to really be an option, though. If he wanted to escape the bandits, himself, and if he wanted the rest of the pegasus knights to be free, he had to think about how all of that was going to happen while the others were trying to fly out of there.

"So, just four wyvern knights, huh? And the dragon's gone, too? What about the rest of the mercenaries, the bandits, and the Ursaean guardsmen? There any 'Skotian footsoldiers on the ground?" he asked.

[Phoenix]

Aggressive Negotiations

Haythem glanced back, as did Amon, only to see that Eva had four wyvern knights nearby, more or less surrounding her, her passenger, and the captive. It wasn't the most reassuring sight. "Options?" the former asked the latter.

"They're not attacking, yet ... sooo ..." It was a tough call, and they had absolutely no plan for rescuing Jamilla. Kozel wasn't even worth mentioning if Sonya was cooperating with him now. Isis was a sitting duck against a dragon, especially one Sonya's size. If she attacked for whatever reason, they were in trouble.

Things could get worse, but not much, Carlos realized. He couldn't quite find the right expletive for what had just happened, but he did settle for a frustrated groan as the two wyvern riders began calling back and forth to each other. "Are you out of your mind?! What did I just tell you, woman?! Do you think they're going to just trade hostages now?!" Normally Carlos was calm about these sorts of things, but with his odds of surviving now approaching literal free fall, he was far less able to compose himself.

If she was so afraid of Kozel, why was she trying to get anywhere near him, the lieutenant wondered? Didn't she realize Kozel sent her to negotiate for a reason? The lieutenant supposed it didn't matter at this point. She wasn't going to let them get anywhere near him. <"We protect the commander. It doesn't work the other way around. You had your chance to cooperate and end this peacefully, and even keep your bounty, but you're not listening, so we'll do this the commander's way and take Carlos by force,"> the woman said, pulling back and putting even more distance between herself and the enemy.

"Tuck and roll when you hit the ground, Carlos. We can patch you up if you survive," she warned him in common before she gently prodded her wyvern. The beast let out a shrill cry that alerted the other three wyvern knights. They immediately broke away from Sasha and his passengers and began to make long turns as they prepared to engage from three sides simultaneously. Meanwhile, the lieutenant secured her lance to her saddlebag and opened up an elongated bag after moving her right leg back, along the base of her wyvern's tail. She quickly pulled out an ornate looking rifle with a large sphere situated just in front of the trigger. The gun almost looked to be built around the sphere, and there was something that looked like a spy glass attached to the top of the barrel about six inches in front of the sphere. It wasn't a flintlock weapon, that much was for certain, and the spherical component seemed to house a black mass that swirled around beneath the transparent parts segments of the sphere.

Carlos' view of the lieutenant was completely obstructed, so he couldn't tell what she was doing, but from the cold tone of her voice, it was clear she was no longer interested in negotiating for his release. She was even priming him for a crash landing in the woods, it seemed. "This is going to hurt," Carlos said, expecting that if he did somehow survive this nonsense, he'd be crippled until help arrived.

The Actual Negotiations

Kozel scowled at Jamilla. "Heh, 'handling fees.' That's a good one. Listen girl, we have priorities; Ursian regulars die, then we deal with your kind. You've got no one to blame but yourselves if you take off with my dog trainer."

"They are still coming," Sonya quietly noted.

"I told the Lieutenant to handle it. Burst hits if they get close." Anticipating some resistance to the order, he immediately added, "Either you discourage them or I discourage them. Take your pick." She didn't say anything after that, leaving Kozel more or less satisfied. Her range was greater than his, and they both knew that, which meant she had until they came to within his range to force them back or he would attempt to skewer one of the riders with his spear.

"Now, if it's not too much trouble, I still have questions for you," Kozel said, a razor's edge to his voice. "Humor me and maybe I'll humor you ... or I'll at least deliver you back to your people in mint condition."

Pegasus Taxiing

"I didn't see any," Cameron said, thinking back to her brief scan out of the outside. There hadn't been any 'skotians on the ground, just the wyverns above. "There are still bandits around though, and I think the fighting's picked up, again."

"Hey, maybe we can use that," Darcey put in. She was clearly enthusiastic about whatever she was picturing. "If the wyvern riders haven't come down to clean up the fighting then that means they're waiting for fliers ... hopefully to actually take off. If you ride out on the ground and follow the main road down, they'll probably still come after you, but if they wait too long thinking about it, you'll be able to slip into the woods before they can catch anyone. We should probably still split up, but if we don't take off right away they might make a mistake." Of course, it wouldn't work if they had the sense to just swoop down and take care of any pegasus knights they saw, but the whole purpose of flying that high was to quickly intercept other fliers. As long as they were on the ground, they could be confident that they would catch them. If they could use that to their advantage, they might get some riders to the trees before the wyvern knights caught up to them. It was a gamble but it wasn't incompatible with the previous ideas, as far as she could tell.

[Ether]

Too much movement was happening for Angelica to keep her rifle trained on Kozel as he ascended, and it seemed like things weren't going well with the other riders, either. Adjusting her aim at the one who appeared to be Kozel's head lackey, the adept grimaced as the woman appeared to be pulling out a gun of her own, and while she couldn't make out all of the details, it didn't seem ordinary.

She wasn't about to find out what it was capable of. Finalizing her aim and holding her breath, Angelica let her magic do it's work, remove variance in wind speed and direction, and fire... displacing the sound to keep her cover, Angelica pulled the trigger of her rifle, aiming to assassinate the lieutenant before she could fire.

[Nanami Touko]

"<I'm not listening? I'm following after Kozel, I'm not trying to get near him! Is this the state of the 'Skotian military right now!?>" Eva halted Sasha as the 'Skotians got aggressive, scowling down the lieutenant. "<You said nothing of negotiations, all you've done is bark for me to stay still; I'm not your dog and I will not act like it! If you want to talk then talk, but don't jump at me because I twitch and you're itching to start something!>" Truth be told, Eva had flown over after the woman had told Haythem they'd be discussing things, missing her entire mention of talking it out. So she was a just a bit upset, and entirely confused, that somehow she'd blown a chance she hadn't been given. Maybe by quitting flying after Kozel, they'd simmer down, but if they wanted a fight and he was going to keep flying away, Eva was fairly confident they could handle just the knights. "<Do I get a chance to talk, or are you done being civil because I'm not being your bitch!?>" She'd turn Sasha and fly back over to Isis if things got too much to handle. She was sure she could out fly them. "Just shut your trap, Carlos. As long as Kozel and Sonya are over there, these knights aren't going to outfight us."

[Toogee]

The Actual Negotiations

Kozel scowled at Jamilla. "Heh, 'handling fees.' That's a good one. Listen girl, we have priorities; Ursian regulars die, then we deal with your kind. You've got no one to blame but yourselves if you take off with my dog trainer."

"They are still coming," Sonya quietly noted.

"I told the Lieutenant to handle it. Burst hits if they get close." Anticipating some resistance to the order, he immediately added, "Either you discourage them or I discourage them. Take your pick." She didn't say anything after that, leaving Kozel more or less satisfied. Her range was greater than his, and they both knew that, which meant she had until they came to within his range to force them back or he would attempt to skewer one of the riders with his spear.

"Now, if it's not too much trouble, I still have questions for you," Kozel said, a razor's edge to his voice. "Humor me and maybe I'll humor you ... or I'll at least deliver you back to your people in mint condition."

Jam decided not to comment on the fate of the Ursians at the base, though she felt terrible about what was coming. She had conversations with a couple of them; they seemed like nice people. There was no way she could help them.

She did notice the tone Kozel took with Sonya. It sounded like maybe she wasn't entirely agreeing with the actions so far. At least the dragon didn't completely betray them. Perhaps she may be her salvation in all of this. Well, not until Kozel was out of the picture. Speaking of which, her kidnapper was nagging for questions.

"Fine, ask your questions," Jam replied, wary of what exactly he hoped to get out of her. If nothing else, maybe the QA session would draw his attention away from her friends.

[Mercakete]

"There's still the minefield," Norbert warned his sister, "And there's a stretch of open field before the woods. You'll want to at least fly low if you want to avoid your pegasus losing a leg."

He paused as a thought occurred to him. "Hmm... It's a long shot, but you might be able to get one of the bandits scared enough of the 'Skotians to help you with the mines, if you can't tell by your pegasi. Maybe threaten to drop him and see when he feels safest. If he falls and nothing blows up, it should be safe to land and run through the trees."

Strategizing aside, it was a tad annoying to hear that none of his supposed allies were still around. It didn't make sense that the Ursaean guardsmen would up and leave before finding their pegasus knights. He knew he saw at least two outside when he looked... Maybe they were the ones the bandits Cameron saw were fighting. They had to be fighting someone if she said there was fighting going on outside. Fizza was probably still here...but was she the only other mercenary to stay behind? If that was true, then no one else had bothered to look for him -- not even Lumi, who knew full well where he was. Normally, this wouldn't bother him too much as it's what he would've expected. There were many reasons he usually worked alone, but recently, he'd learned to rely on a team. Maybe that was why he felt as angry about it as he did.

Then again, Cameron's reply hadn't been that specific. Maybe she just meant she hadn't seen any 'Skotian soldiers on the ground, and that the Ursaeans and the mercenaries were fighting the bandits. That made a lot more sense. It was better to ask, though, so, he asked Cameron, "Who're the bandits fighting? The Ursaean guardsmen and the other mercenaries?"

[Phoenix]

For Want of a Helmet

After Eva's latest retort, Carlos let his arms slump. This must have been what having a terminal illness was like. He wasn't sure exactly how he was going to die in the next couple of minutes, but he was quickly resigning himself to it. He tried to give Eva one last warning now that his calm had returned. "You're missing the point; Kozel and Sonya are only going to be 'over there' until the fighting starts. Then they'll be over here, and you can whine to Kozel about how you would have won if he and Sonya had just stayed back and let you kill their comrades." He didn't know if Eva understood what he was getting at, but he didn't much care, anymore. He just wished she would have her wyvern drop him, already. The fall would be either severe or just plain fatal depending on where he landed, but at least he would see it coming. Either way it was preferable to getting skewered to death as the wyvern knights passed, or worse, crushed when Sasha crashed on top of him.

<"If you spent less time 'talking', as you put it, perhaps we could have come to an agreement,"> the lieutenant said as she leaned forward in the saddle with the elaborate weapon, <"but you're not going to insult us, not when we can simply take him back and leave you broken."> Her wyvern began to glide in order to stay level as his rider lined up her shot. The other three wyvern knights had entered the halfway point in their turns and were beginning to come back for a high speed three pronged assault, aimed at crippling the enemy wyvern. The lieutenant herself planned to shoot one of the wyvern's legs, 'encouraging' it to drop Carlos so that he wouldn't be caught up in the three wyvern knights' incoming assault.

"Amon, you see that?" Haythem called out as the wyverns began turning inward, forming a large triangle around Sasha and her passengers.

"Yeah," Amon winced, "triangle attack." He knew first hand how those sorts of maneuvers went, and how much damage they could inflict. Worse still, Eva was no longer flying fast enough to take advantage of a direction change or other maneuver that might throw the 'skotian riders off target. He didn't see any way that they could actually miss her. Suddenly there was a sharp pop from somewhere behind them. Haythem couldn't quite see the source from behind all of his passengers, only the wyvern knights spread out far beyond it. Amon on the other hand could see that the fourth rider, the one that seemed to be calling the shots, was pulling up fast, and leaving a trail of black smoke in her wake. "What's going on?" It seemed as though the triangle attack had dissolved as a result as well, and instead of turning inward toward Eva, they pulled up as well and followed suit.

"Are they retreating?"

The lieutenant's first instinct when her head suddenly jerked backward was to pull up and guide her wyvern into a steep climb. It wasn't the kindest of maneuvers, considering knights trained to do this were effectively using their mounts as shields against incoming fire, but it had been thoroughly drilled into her, and she performed the move perfectly as she tried to piece together what had just happened under the veil of darkness that now enveloped her. She recalled something striking the very bottom edge of her helmet's forehead plate, and then ricocheting right into her caduceus' power sphere, which had caused the packed dark energy to spill out of it. If her head had been angled just a couple of centimeters higher or more to the side, she might have been killed, but now she had a leaking power sphere to deal with, as well as a sniper. Plus her ears were ringing from the ordeal, which made communicating effectively impossible for the moment. There was no point in continuing. Carlos wasn't worth that much. She would simply have to report back to Kozel, and let him deal with the mercenaries, himself. As long as he was riding on Sonya, a simple bullet had no chance of reaching him.

For Want of Options

"We should get the big one out of the way, first," Kozel began, "What are you people doing here? What specifically did the Ursaeans bring you along for?" He suspected they either got hired to serve as extra muscle in the raid and decided to get the bounty on Carlos once they realized whose base they hit, or had known all along and put together the raid themselves and the Ursaeans had simply spared who they could to help put an end to this mess or at least save face.

"Karla! No," Sonya exclaimed, her sudden reaction jostling Kozel and Jamilla.

The commander was wondering if he shouldn't move down to the dragon's back if she was going to be 'reacting' to things. Almost belatedly he realized that Sonya had called out the lieutenant's name. Had she been hurt? Looking for himself, he could only see a trail of dark magic billowing out behind her as she quickly climbed higher and higher into the sky. The other knights had broken off as well and were trying to get to her. Kozel knew right away that the power sphere in her rifle had been breached, probably by some sort of ranged attack. That meant negotiations had broken down, which left him in a somewhat awkward position, seeing as he had a hostage he had no intention of killing, yet still needed to prepare to fight her allies. "Hmm, it looks like we're out of time for the interview. I need to figure out what to do with you before we go after them." It was clear in his tone that he wasn't going to simply toss her overboard. The problem was that Jamilla would be quite the distraction going forward, especially considering the fact that Kozel was preparing to kill her colleagues.

For Want of a Diversion

"I'm pretty sure it's our people fighting them ... the soldiers, I mean," Cameron answered, trying to be clearer this time. At the same time, she applied the salve to the first of the wounds, trying to use at least enough to close it properly, without being wasteful. She was inevitably going to wind up using at least a third of the bottle to treat him, but she hoped he wouldn't notice that or protest with the distraction of the escape plan going on.

"I'm not sure we have time to capture a bandit and use him to get out of here," Darcey frowned. "The 'skotians are going to know something's up once they see our pegasi."

"Not necessarily," another rider chimed in, "if our other pegasi survived, they're probably wandering around somewhere outside. Those riders are probably too high up to make out the fine details so we might be able to trick them."

For Want of Information

"What's wrong?" Malik asked, a noticeable lack of genuine concern in his tone. Frankly, he sounded as if he'd already asked the question several times without getting any satisfying answers. He was kneeling in front of Joanna, who had been gasping and cringing every so often as she tried to check in on the rest of the group. She'd answered him every so often, of course, but her own understanding of the situation was so incomplete that to her it seemed as if a battle would start, and then suddenly stop, and just as quickly start again, before being once again halted by some unseen force. It was a truly frightening and nerve wracking experience.

"Joanna," Malik said, his tone the same as before, "I asked what's wrong? Is anyone hurt?"

"N-no new injuries but I'm not sure what's happening," Joanna quickly said, the words practically spilling out of her all at once. She was tense, unable to relax, sweating, and trembling constantly. It was really starting to annoy Malik, who could do nothing but sit around and try to make sense of whatever he could get out of her.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Phoenix

[Phoenix]

Edited February 11, 2016 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

sick banner phee

"You think I don't know that? We'll just beat them before he makes it over, easy." That was nothing but hot air, even Eva knew that, but she was a bit upset and therefore far too stubborn to care. As well as this lieutenant, was she high? Maybe the altitude was getting to her. "<You think I'm not about to insult some 'Skotian dogs, heeling at their master's every word? You don't get how lucky you all are right now. Show me how broken I'll be!>" Why were they circling her, anyway? That felt like an easy thing to dodge... She could just have Sasha drop straight down, definitely. Definitely. Getting ready to do so, there was a faint pop and suddenly smoke, the woman pulling up and the others beginning to fly away. She didn't quite know what happened, but part of her figured something had gone wrong with her fancy gun, Eva laughing and pulling Sasha back to go over to Haythem. "<Flee, dogs!>" A small smile developing, she sighed, shaking her head. "I told you, Carlos. Nothing to worry about. For now."

[Mercakete]

While a little disheartening and frustrating, Norbert was glad to hear Cameron's assessment. It would explain why there were so few wyvern knights in the sky -- they were off chasing down the airborne mercenaries. Between Sasha and Isis, a good chunk of their group could have tried to flee...leaving everyone else behind. Blast it, we're supposed to be able to rely on each other! Grr... I guess things just got that bad... Suddenly, his frustration left him. In its place, Norbert felt that familiar, cold distrust harden over his heart like a shell. He wasn't interested in getting emotional over people he hardly knew. If they had been close friends, well... Maybe that would've been different. As it stood, though, he simply saw how far he could trust these people. Now, he had to focus on helping the Ursaean pegasus knights and what remaining guardsmen that he could, let alone watching out for his own skin. Because, like before, it seemed, no one was going to do that for him.

Or, at least, no one who was supposed to be on the same team as him. He had to look after himself, regarding them. He saw that now. Cameron, however, kept proving that she would help him, if she could. She, he would trust. And she, he would fight for and with. At least, that is, while he had the option to.

"If one's running, just pick him up," Norbert replied to Darcey, but it may not have been as clear as he would normally have said it. His mind was already working on another possibility. This one, he voiced more clearly. "Maybe that's why Fizza said to wait for her. She knows her way through the minefield. Once you're outside this place, maybe she can show you where it is...and maybe even guide the rest of us through it, if we get the chance."

[-Cynthia-]

Liam raised an eyebrow and walked over towards Joanna, putting a hand on her shoulder. "This...power is new to you Joanna and I'm not sure using it continously will be to anyone's benefit. Perhaps you should take a break?" he suggested.

[Ether]

Well, a hit was a hit, though the Lieutenant was still standing... or flying, as it were. It seemed that the bullet had ricocheted off of her helmet, damaging her weapon in the process. She'd be stunned at the very least, and after moving over a ways to get a better angle, and far enough away to avoid any counterfire, Angelica began to reload her rifle, in case it became necessary to take another shot.

[Toogee]

For Want of Options

"We should get the big one out of the way, first," Kozel began, "What are you people doing here? What specifically did the Ursaeans bring you along for?" He suspected they either got hired to serve as extra muscle in the raid and decided to get the bounty on Carlos once they realized whose base they hit, or had known all along and put together the raid themselves and the Ursaeans had simply spared who they could to help put an end to this mess or at least save face.

"Karla! No," Sonya exclaimed, her sudden reaction jostling Kozel and Jamilla.

The commander was wondering if he shouldn't move down to the dragon's back if she was going to be 'reacting' to things. Almost belatedly he realized that Sonya had called out the lieutenant's name. Had she been hurt? Looking for himself, he could only see a trail of dark magic billowing out behind her as she quickly climbed higher and higher into the sky. The other knights had broken off as well and were trying to get to her. Kozel knew right away that the power sphere in her rifle had been breached, probably by some sort of ranged attack. That meant negotiations had broken down, which left him in a somewhat awkward position, seeing as he had a hostage he had no intention of killing, yet still needed to prepare to fight her allies. "Hmm, it looks like we're out of time for the interview. I need to figure out what to do with you before we go after them." It was clear in his tone that he wasn't going to simply toss her overboard. The problem was that Jamilla would be quite the distraction going forward, especially considering the fact that Kozel was preparing to kill her colleagues.

"Uh, we're mercenaries," Jam replied to Kozel's question, confused about how this could be his most pressing question. "Bandits kidnapped peg knights in small town. Town army hires mercs to go after said bandits. Bring the leader for compensation. What, they don't have mercenaries in Neviskotia?"

Their conversation was interrupted by Sonya's jostling. Jam thought she was going to fall off. There wasn't much time afterwards before Kozel spoke about "what to do with her". Though his tone wasn't threatening, the words did not comfort her in the slightest. Her friends were causing trouble for him and he was going to move against them. He knew Jam would move against him with everything she had (he would be correct). A far as Jam knew, she was the only thing between them and death by skewering.

"What, do I distract you from your magic tricks? Is your army outmatched by a bunch of simple mercs?" Jam attempted to taunt Kozel some more, giving a brief reflexive glance at her sword as she considered her next move.

[Phoenix]

Regroup

"Why do you think they're falling back, exactly?" Carlos cocked an eyebrow, "out of fear? They're regrouping for another attack ... that or fetching Kozel and Sonya. We're still in trouble." Having calmed down and thought back on what was happening, as well as thinking back to the argument between Eva and the Lieutenant, Carlos realized that even though they were willing to kill him, the 'skotians still wanted him alive ... most likely to keep his own people in line so they could continue to use them against the Ursaeans. That was all fine and good, but if they didn't talk this out, soon, almost no one would be getting out of this alive, least of all him.

<"Dogs ..."> Karla quietly repeated the words with utter contempt as her wyvern carried her away and over the battlefield. She let go of the reins and punched the undamaged side of the power sphere, forcing the whole thing out and leaving a massive ring-like void in the weapon. As it fell, she was free of the black shroud and was able to see clearly, again. <"What makes simple mercenaries that full of themselves? A sniper, however well hidden, isn't going to stop us."> She carefully removed her helmet to inspect the damage, and was somewhat pleased to find that it was only a light dent. Whomever had shot at her had done so from far enough away that armor penetration was simply impossible. She placed the helmet back on and reached into the saddlebags on the left side, quickly producing another power sphere. It only took a couple of seconds to work it into place, and then the dark mass of energy inside began to swirl restlessly, once again.

<"Lieutenant,"> the nearest wyvern knight called over to her, <"are you alright?">

<"Sniper, silenced weapon,"> she answered instead, <"we're going to flank the commander and Sonya and keep them out of harm's way.">

<"Understood,"> the knight nodded, as did the mage riding behind him, and the others nearby, as well.

Advance

So they had been hired rather than setting it all up themselves. Fair enough, Kozel decided. He smiled when Jamilla goaded him, a sinister smile that only made sense later, once anima began to gather and gently squeeze her neck. It wasn't enough to be a problem, or even all that uncomfortable, but it was more than enough to send a message. "Not at all. I'm not in the habit of using human shields, so I'll just keep you off to my side for now. Once this is over, we'll have someone drop you off by one of the nearby towns. If you want to help your fellow mercenaries, instead, feel free, but I will kill you if you get in my way. Sonya, you're on defense. Don't screw it up."

"Yes, commander," Sonya replied somberly.

"Straight for Carlos. I'll handle the rest," he ordered, and the massive earth dragon entered into a shallow dive heading straight for Sasha and his passengers.

"They're going after Eva and Hoshi," Haythem exclaimed, "we've got to do something!"

Finally

"Hey everyone," one of the pegasus knights tried to get the group's attention, "someone's coming!" She kept her voice as low as she could, hoping it wouldn't carry out toward the entrance. With most of the pegasus knights quieting down to listen for noises, the sound of footsteps were starting to get through. There were too many to be one person, and some of them sounded particularly heavy.

"Oh please, gods," Darcey's face went pale with fear, "not Carlos' people ..." Suddenly the fear sank beneath combat instinct. She wasn't geared for combat, but there was no way in hell she could go out like this, standing around like a sheep. "Bows," she quietly but quickly instructed. They could at least get the drop on them if they were enemies.

They didn't have quite enough time to prepare. Only one arrow had been knocked by the time the first person rounded the corner, and to her surprise, it was a man dressed in the garb and armor of the ursaean guardsmen. "Oh ..." she let the bow down and began to put the arrow away.

"Doran?" Cameron recognized the guardsman. The relief on his face was surprising even to the pegasus knights.

"Finally," he smiled.

"Hey there," Fizza waved as soon as she rounded the corner. She had reins in her other hand, and about as soon as anyone could register that, a pegasus stepped into view behind her. "Sorry for the wait, but I need at least one of the peggies for this to work."

Tense Spectator

"But the situation over there ..." Joanna trailed off, unsure of how to describe what was going on. The distraction ended her vision prematurely, and she realized how awful she must have looked to the others as she opened her eyes. "I'm sorry ... I just don't know what to do or how to help. There are Neviskotians out there. They don't want the bandits wiped out, so they're ... not very happy with our people right now." She could more fully explain herself now that she was no longer in a trance, which just irritated Malik even further.

"Seriously? Why didn't you tell me that when I asked?" He quickly reined himself in and took a seat next to a crate on the wagon floor and let out a sigh. He knew they couldn't actually do anything to help, being as far away as they were, so he supposed nothing she told him would actually do anyone involved any good in the long term. "Forget it. Just be sure to let us know if something else important comes up."

Edited February 12, 2016 by Phoenix