Pathwalker - RP

[Red XIII]

"What?!?!"
Ragnar saw the way Saine and Anyan fought
"Damn! and I standing here doing nothing!"

Ragnar left the safety of the rock very slowly, using his stealth skills to remain unnoticed. The archers were confused, and most of them had forgotten about the three or four fools trapped behind the rock.

Ragnar got to the crossbow and grabbed it.
Suddenly, two swordmen saw him, and started to run towards him.

Ragnar's crossbow was unloaded, and it was impossible to make it on time.
Ragnar let down the crossbow and took his blades, knowing that he was a dead man.

The taller swordmen was faster, he got to Ragnar in no time and swinged his blade at Ragnar's neck.
Ragnar stopped his blade by using his left arm blade, and stabbed the enemy's stomach with his right blade.

As always, Ragnar was accurate. His blade between two joints of the warrior's armor, hurting him badly.
The warrior screamed, and fell to the floor, taking Ragnar's blade with him.

The shorter swordman was closer now "That's it. I'm dead" Ragnar thought. In that moment, an arrow flew from the rock, and hit the swordman in the heart, right through the armor.
Ragnar looked at the rock... It was Alziel, who, seeing the old man in troubles, had helped him.

Ragnar nodded to thank him, took his crossbow, but when he went to get his sword, he noticed that the swordman was still alive.

"He has not much time left...." Ragnar thought. "What do I do?"

Ragnar took the warrior's helmet of.
The warrior was a young blond man, with blue eyes and pointy ears. Everything pointed to the Elven race. The elven swordman had a small bleeding wound on the forehead, possibly caused by a stone.

"An Elf?!?! What's an Elf doing here?" Ragnar said.

The Elf looked At Ragnar with disgust, and tried to say something.
Instead, he vomited some blood and expired.

Ragnar looked at his enemy with compassion, and right in that moment a few arrows started to fly his way, missing badly. "What happened to their acurracy?" Ragnar thought while smiling.
Ragnar took his blade out of the dead warrior and saved it in its sheat, along with the other; but when he took his crossbow, an arrow fell right next to his foot.

"Damn! It looks like they are improving... I'll have to cover myself the ol' school way"

Ragnar started to carry the dead Elf on his back, and walked towards the rock.

"What are you doing!?!?" Alziel asked once Ragnar was hidden again.
"It's a good way to cover. Look" Ragnar answered, while showing Alziel the swordman's back.

The Elf's back was covered in arrows, originally meant for Ragnar.

[Dragonium]

Alziel smiled and nodded. It was good to see that Ragnar, even in such a dire situation as this, still had his sense of humour.

He sighed and sank back against the rock. He was running short of arrows; if they survived this battle, he'd have to liberate some from the archers.

He turned to Liara. She sat turning the fragment of fruit from Ragnar in her fingers of one, staring at it, while with her other hand she tried futilely to stop the blood flow with the rag. It didn't seem to be working; and since she didn't have her magic completely restored yet, she wouldn't be able to heal herself. For once, Alziel didn't have any ideas. If he could bind it, certainly it might help, but he wasn't sure...

There was a battle cry from Anyan's direction out of Alziel's view, and the sound of clattering steel. Ragnar rolled his eyes and charged away out of sight, leaving Alziel with Liara behind the rock.

"I'm sorry", she said weakly. Alziel frowned. "If it wasn't for me being here getting in your way, you'd be... fine...". She trailed off, winced, and held her shoulder more tightly. Alziel leaned across and put a hand on her shoulder, to help her to keep the pressure on it, and he felt that she was becoming cold.

He wondered if she could walk any reasonable distance. The camp was only a hundred yards or so away, and the gap in the wall wouldn't let more than one enemy in at a time. They could shelter in one of the huts while Alziel attempted to treat Liara.

Certainly, he'd treated wounds like this before. Once he'd been gored by a boar while hunting with Leyland, and he'd had to bind it, and it had come out fine. But this was different, Liara was more delicate. That was if they could even get to the encampment on time without being cut down.

Still, it was worth a try. He shouldered his bow, and stood up as tall as he could without being aimed at. He looked down to Liara, and without having to ask, she knew what he was planning. She started to stand up, but he knelt and supported her until they were both relatively ready.

"I don't know", she sighed, "If I can... do this...".

"I'm with you", he reassured her softly. He turned to see Monty aiming a knife through the hole in the wall. "Monty", he called, "We'll need some help, don't let them get a decent shot at us". Monty nodded.

With a collective deep breath, the two of them set off over the chaotic battlefield.

[Moosetroop11]

Liara had seen doubt in Alziels eyes when he picked her up- doubt that the pair would make it to the wall- but the truth is that the moment he picked her up, she felt safe. Monty was providing exceptionally good cover- and Alziel wouldn't have dropped her, she knew, even had he been struck by an arrow.

Not that she was going to let that happen.She noted that Alziel had picked her up awkwardly as he hadn't wanted to aggrevate her wound or harm her thin wings- she couldn't help but smile at his thoughtfulness even now- but more importantly, she was held in his arms in such a way that she could look back past him to the archers. The ones that weren't under atack by Alziel, Ragnar or the one with dark energy were lining up their shots, only to be struck down by Monty, but there were still arrows leaving the powerful bows. She knew that if she saw an arrow on course, she might have enough energy and fast enough reactions to ward it away in time...

And then, completely to her surprise, she felt a small ripple of discomfort in her subconsious, just powerful enough to notice. Liara knew immediately that something that could harness magic had entered the battlefield. Something hostile.

There was another sprite nearby.

[Red XIII]

Ragnar heard Anyan screaming, and hurried put of the rock.

The battle was continuing, but luckily there were no more enemies in sight.

Ragnar took cover, by kneeling down, and loaded his crossbow.

Shot after shot, Ragnar tried to take out enemy leaders, to disorganize them.

However, the elven enemy.........

"What could this warriors have to do with the winged creatures?"
Ragnar thought.
"Elves normally use Magic... Could this warriors be helped by such a force?"

Ragnar went back behind the rock, and saw Alziel taking Liara to the camp.

"Well done!!" Ragnar yelled. "Alziel!!! I'll cover you from here!!"

Then Ragnar took cover, in a specific part of the rock that was out of the enemy's line of fire, as well as Monty's.

Ragnar kept reloading and shooting.

[Kinslayer]

"They just keep coming!" screamed Anyan, as he killed another warrior.

"We must withdraw Saine! Let us meet the others!"

Saine nodded back to Anyan, and both men started to run towards Alziel. Anyan detected a horde of warriors coming form a hill, screaming and charging.

Suddenly, he started to run fast. But his wounds had started to bother... Anyan realized that eh ahd not taken care of the scratches and he was loosing blood. He didn't care, he just kep running.


He saw Alziel, and screamed: "Run awa...!!!" and suddenly, a huge ball of fire fell beside him, making an explosion and throwing him several feet  away. It didn't hit him hard, but  it still surprised him. After picking up the Viper, he searched for his attacker...

He saw the shadow of a sprite behind the dust...

"Liara...?" he said. He ahd mistaken the enemy with Liara.

A thunder came from the sprite's hands, hitting Anyan hard and throwing him against the floor again...

"They must be fed..." said the sprite, as she started to walk towards Anyan. The young man stood no his feet and charged, as if he wss possesed, but the sprite threw him away by just opening her right hand and waving ittowards the right.

"You... are a fine psychic..." muttered Anyan. The enemy sprite started to get close to him. After she was close to him, their eyes met.

The sprite stared to Anyan's eyes. Her eyes were completly white, as if she was dead.

Suddenly, she smiled: "Red eyes...? The sign of a Resurrector... A high price to pay for a high treasure to obtain, right?" she said.

Anyan opened his eyes wide... how did she know that...? He didn't realized that he was paralized against a wall and the sprite had staretd to cast a thunder, which was tarting to come out of her hand...

[Moosetroop11]

When the sprite was blown off of her feet by a sudden intense gust of wind. She cursed, her blood red hair falling menacingly over her eyes as she shot a glance to her attacker, the sprite dissapearing into the fort, carried by a man. The seconds she had lost would pay a heavy price. Anyan had broken free of her telekinetic hold and was rushing towards her. She took to the skies , her black wings spreading either side of her like a bat's.

"You shouldn't have come, resurrector" she spat, twisting the now heavy rain into daggers of hail. Anyan prepared to dodge the spell and attack.

"Brat!"
The yell belonged to Ragnar. He was shooting from behind a rock near the wall entrance.
"Brat, get over here!  We have your back!"

[Red XIII]

As Anyan retreated to the ruined fort, Ragnar looked at the situation.

Saine didn't seem to have any problems, and the charging enemies were away.
The only one who seemed to have a troubled position was Anyan.
Ragnar reloaded his crossbow, pointed towards the sprite, and waited.

"She has Telechinesis and can stop my shot, but only if she see it coming!" Ragnar thought

Shooting girls in the back wasn't normaly like Ragnar at all, but that was a desperate situation.

The sprite hadn't even seen Ragnar, who shot when the time was right.

The bolt hit the enemy fairie right under the left wing, in the middle of the back.
A horrible "crack" sound was heard, and the fairie fell to the ground yelling.

She fell about 40 meters away from our heroes.

"Yes! A direct shot! that sound... Her back must be broken!" Ragnar thought.
But he had not expected what came later.

In her last seconds, the fairie scramed and cast several spells.
Thunders, strange light rays and a scary green fog appeared in the place where she fell. Luckily, the enemies who wee going through there didn't seem to like the effect.

Ragnar started to retreat to the fort, knowing that he had been seen.

Suddenly, a fireball came out of the fog, and blew up against the rock that Ragnar had used as a hiding spot.
The rock blew up, throwing small stones around.

"Puf! Lucky me... I got outta that rock in the right ti..." Ragnar thougt, right before a rock hit him in the head.

Ragnar fell to the ground unconcious.

[Emerates]

Saine looked  around quickly.  Archers still continued to fire at Alziel, until he finally made it to the wall with Liara on his back.  Monty was continuing his cycle of throw-and-receive.  Anyan was heading along the wall back to the hole, where the group could make their escape.  And the old man..... was lying by a small crater.

Saine heard more enemies approaching, reinforcements for the battle.  For the moment, he was safe, unless the dark elf had survived Ragnar's bolt.

The Manifest was really starting to leech away at Saine's stamina, so he pulled the claw/gauntlet off, but not without difficulty.  The weapon was almost an entity itself, trying to adhere to the wielder and absorb their life force.  It slid off, and Saine viewed his hand.  It was a slight shade of purple, and a bit swollen from the constricted blood flow.  However, he was breathing easier already, and his heart was starting to slow.

Saine then rushed over to Ragnar, trying to stay out of sight of the archers.  "Hey, Ragnar," he said as he shook the old man's shoulder.  "Ragnar, wake up!"  He shook harder, but the old man did not stir.  Saine checked his pulse; he was still alive.

He looked back up the hill to see the first of the reinforcements coming over the crest.  "Damnit..." he muttered.  He took Ragnar, hefted him bodily over his shoulder, and vanished.

He appeared next to the others on the outside of the wall.  Alziel turned in surprise, his bow ready to fire.  Upon seeing it was Saine, he lowered his bow, but the surprise remained affixed to his face.

"That first explosion..." he said quietly.
"Yes."
"That means....?"
"Later."  Saine lowered Ragnar to the ground, exhaling heavily as he did so.  The battle had taken its toll, and he was almost exhausted.  Despite his rescue of the elder man, the others still looked at Saine as though they were seeing something strange and slightly frightening for the first time.

Saine felt like an outsider at that moment.  They all knew, or thought they knew, his true nature now.  They would see him as an evil now, dangerous.  Perhaps too dangerous to travel with.  But that was not the case, and he had to convince them of that, later.

"Look, we have to get out of here if we want to survive.  How about we worry about that first?" Saine asked indignantly.  Still, he could see there was no trust for him at the moment.

[Kinslayer]

Anyan ran through the hole, to meet up with his companions. He catched Saine speaking, and he agreed.

"We should do that, Sain is right. We mustn't think about trusting or not trusting, we must take care of ourselves while we can... Let us get moving!" he said.

Everyone nodded... but where would they be heading?

The mountain, perhaps...


There were caves there and they seemed safe... but yet dark.
Would they be deep? Anyan didn't know...

Still he said: "We should head for the mountain through another way..." he was worriedm still... And he would have to confess what a Resurrector was...

[Moosetroop11]

The rain pattered against the dark sprite's pale face, dirt churning to mud around the startingly beautiful features. She opened her expressionless eyes and her hand clenched into a fist.

[Red XIII]

"Well said, brat!!"

Everyone turned, and saw Ragnar, who had sitted after waking up.

"Are you okay?!" Liara asked.

"Aye. Don't worry, my head is hurting a little bit, but no worse than when I have one or two cups over my usual" Ragnar said, trying to smile. none of the group laughed.

He seemed in pain, though.
However, the wound wasn't bad, and it was going to heal without any more trouble.

Ragnar stood up. It took him two seconds to focus again, since he was still a bit dizzy. But then he walked as usual, and got out of the camp.

"Where are you going?!?!" Anyan asked.

"Don't worry." Ragnar answered. He went about two meters away from the hole in the wall, and came back bringing a ragged piece of cloth.

"It's my hat. Do you think I'm going to go around showing ya all my bald head?" Ragnar asked.

Then, he started to fix the ragged hat, leaving the job of choosing the way to Alziel and the others.

While Ragnar fxed the hat, he remembered Shell's frog.

"Hey, little one, are you?"

The frog croaked, inside Ragnar's pocket. Ragnar smiled, seeing that the frog was fine.
"Well, at least we got out of this one, huh?"

The look of the frog said: "Barely".

Ragnar started thinking, as he fixed the ruined hat..... About the misterious enemies, about Saine's strange poweres (Which had really impressed the old man. Ragnar wanted to have Saine as a friend more than ever), and about his mission.

"Prince.... I will have to tell them soon" Ragnar muttered.

[Moosetroop11]

Now that she was resting, Liara's wound had begun to stop bleeding. Alziel had bound it well, but she was still weak. And the appearence of that sprite had shaken her.
But for now she had other questions.

"Saine..." she said, softly from where she was lying. "that was you? I felt terrible energies coming from you... What happened out there?"

[Emerates]

Saine heard Liara's question and walked over to her.  He knelt down beside her and looked her straight in the eye.

"Do you want a simple answer or an elaborate one?" he asked quietly, but not unpleasantly.

"Well.... the truth would be my first choice..." Liara answered.
"Alright."  Saine sat the rest of the way down beside her, and sighed.  He was still shaking slightly from the draining battle they had just come from.  "First, I want you to know that despite my... skills, I am still the same man you had been talking to earlier today.  The only that has changed is that you now know one more thing about me."

Liara nodded, but said nothing.  Saine continued.  "Yes, those energies you felt were mine, and yes, they are dark powers.  But they were given to me by default, not by my choice...."  Saine went on to explain about his father's Incubi heritage, how his mother had been raped by him, and why he was now here in the Western lands.

"...so, I inherited them from my father's blood, and learned to wield and control them over time.  They may be less acceptable means of magic than yours, but I do not use them out of malice.  Unfortunately for this time, there were no other options left."  The whole time Saine was speaking, Liara did not interrupt or show concern or fright.  She listened quietly, accepting Saine's explanation without question.  Saine felt relief at this, and silently thanked her for allowing him to confide in her.

Alziel's voice came loud and clear to the group.  "We've had a few minutes' rest, but it's time for us to leave."

"Can you walk?" Saine asked Liara.
"I think so."
"Well, how about you take it easy for a while, alright?  I'll carry your things until you're doing better.  Now, come on." Saine helped Liara to steady herself against the wall, then bent down and took up her things with his.

[Kinslayer]

Anyan heard Saine's explanation with attention, remaining quiet. He wasn't the only one with his business in the West. He ahd already found his father, and his note was a proof against the King...

That would prove the complot against his family... but yet, the King had to die by his hand...

"Shall we go, then...?" said Anyan. "The enemy will certainly be pursuing us now... we must be quick."

He decided to silence his position now. How would that sprite know that he was a Resurrector...?

[Dragonium]

OOC: Sorry again. Much work, little time.

BIC:

Alziel stood and stretched. Certainly, they had stayed long enough for everyone to feel slightly rested and more able to go about walking back on the path towards the mountain, but the battle had taken a lot out of the lot of them; especially, Alziel noticed, Saine.

But then, there was a lot of tension in the air. People seemed to have plenty of secrets. He had heard the majority of Saine's speech, putting his eavesdropping abilities to use again, and everything had become strange; in some capacity, it made a lot of sense, and no sense at all at the same time.

Still, there were other things to think about. He picked up a handful of arrows which were scattered about, dropped them into his quiver, and waited for everyone else to be ready to leave.

He tried hard to disguise the pangs of jealously and mistrust he felt as he watched Saine escort Liara back outside.