"Dammit, Alaira!"

Meirin tried in vane to stop the fire from spreading. She always knew Alaira was a bit unhinged, but was she trying to kill them all?! How was this even suppose to be remotely helpful? Meirin did a quick movement to blow the smoke out of their faces, but she couldn't do that more than once before she started coughing. Fighting the flames was pointless, but they could still escape with the caravan. Meirin followed the tracks and got onto the bridge, only to see that the bandits were still there and they were now in a much more precious situation. At least before they had a fighting chance, but now the bandits threaten to cut the bridge if they don't give into their demands. Ssarak relayed a mental message suggesting to give into the bandits demands and they try to kill them afterwards, but of course, Alaira was a loose-cannon. She vaulted over the bank under the assumption no one would see her burst out of the fire, and tried to pull the bandits down. All she succeed in doing was cutting the last rope keeping the bridge up.

Meirin had to act fast, at least fast enough to fix this mess. She knew little to no magic that could save the rope, but she could still use her body. Just as the rope split Meirin grabbed onto it, and than reached out to grab the post it was tied to. Using her own body to hold the bridge up she could feel her body ripping apart from the weight, but she held together. For now. "GO! GO ACROSS THE BRIDGE NOW, DAMMIT!" Meirin screamed as tears begin to form across her body.

Ssarak wanted to stop Alaira, but she was too quick to grab. He wished he could yell at her inside her head, but having her scream out in pain while sneaking up on them would make the situation immediately worse. The first mistake he might forgive, but now it was like she was just trying to sabotage them. He had not believed it was a good idea to bring her along, but not for this reason; he had more anticipated her weakened state would be the issue. It mattered little at the moment, however, as he needed to focus on keeping the bridge stable, an idea that Meirin shared.

Meirin was a bit quicker to reach the rope than Ssarak, but he was right behind her. She shouted for them all to cross, but there was no way in Tien he was leaving her to be dragged into the river by the weight she was supporting. Besides, falling into the river wouldn't be an issue for him if he was pulled down by the rope. He rushed over to Meirin and grabbed onto the post and rope as well, adding his considerable strength to the mix and, more importantly, reducing the stress on Meirin.

"Darius, help us!" Ssarak shouted telepathically. It was possible they might hold it up long enough as it was, but Darius could only make it easier.

Darius felt another rush of anger as Alaira ran off into the smoke. and towards the water. That woman is insufferable! He didn't know what the half elf was thinking, but she might just go make a bad situation worse. When they got to the center of the bridge, the men who were fighting each other now held their daggers to the ropes. demanding that they hand over the wagon or fall to the river below. Darius mentally let out a string of curses. Now he was pissed. He glared at the two men from across the bridge and had an idea. Now that he was angry, he could use his ability to- too late. Alaira grabbed the men and succeeded in helping them cut the rope.

Darius's mental curses turned vocal as he ran towards the end of the bridge, ensuring his own safety before anyone else's. Once he had made sure of that, he turned to the rope that Meirin and Ssarak were holding to keep the bridge from falling. He flinched at the shout in his head and hurried towards the rope, grabbing it and anchoring himself to the post as well. He really hoped that Alaira was a good fighter, because she sure as hell didn't think.

---

Leith

Leith was glad that the carriage was large enough for him to sit far enough away from Althalus to prevent the shrieking he got whenever he got too close. Although it didn't stop the buzzing from being as loud as it could be. The next few days were quite uncomfortable for Leith. He was glad to be free from the carriage and stretch his legs when they arrived at the latest scene that the mages had made.

The carnage was sickening. Sure, he had been through the attack at the college, but this was different. This was a village that had been slaughtered, not just a college with late teenagers to adults. Children were a part of this attack. Leith cupped a hand around his mouth and stared at his feet as he tried to get his stomach under control. He looked up when Grey started speaking. He said something about the carnage being the work of a Noxomancer. Leith nodded and looked around, there were signs of decay around, but also the signs of really hot fire, from the looks of the a Yarosmerian soldier's sword. The fact that some of the bodies had been ripped apart and chewed on gave him a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"It might not-" Leith's voice cracked, causing him to cough. "It might not strictly be a Noxomancer. This could have been the work of a Demonmancer. There is a large variety of demons with different abilities. Decay can be one of them, and so can Pyromancy." He gestured to the body parts scattered around. "And some of them can have a bit of an appetite." Leith shuddered, this place was almost too much for him. He followed everyone to the house that was untouched in silence.

The house made Leith uneasy. Why had it stayed unmarred while the rest of the village was destroyed? When Grey tried to open the door and a kid shouted out from an open window above them, Leith became more uneasy. Something wasn't right. He let Althalus and Grey speak before he spoke in a quiet voice. "There is something wrong with this kid, I agree, but the thing that disturbs me more than that is the fact that this house wasn't touched by anything, while everything around it has been. No decay, no bodies, nothing to show that it was protected. Why is that?"

Caravan Mission

An Unexpected Turn

Deep within wagon was a medium, unmark box. And inside that was a small figure. Lithe, quiet, and sleeping, Lyn had curled up among the straw contents which cradled her body. It was both warmth and softer then the box’s wood as she let her breath rustle the straw reeds with each snore. Currently Lucilia had the foresight to dress Lyn in something other than just a tunic. Her outfit was still simple, an oversize traveling tunic and tight breeches, with a belt to hold both a pouch filled by Lucilia’s Elixirs, some foodstuffs, and her weapon. She stirred slightly when the wagon came to an abrupt halt, but didn’t wake. Instead a few crumble on her body scattered into the straw heaped around before she settled back into slumber. Her grip upon her toy however had loosened as the little toy began to move, its simple mind and function popped it to life for a moment. Slowly it detangled itself then edged to one of the box sides. It reached out a small paw and touched the smoothed out interior, applying a slight pressure while the wood seemed to creak in protest. While the events outside their little hiding place continued, the toy examined the confines until it was satisfied then waddled back to a whimpering Lyn and crawled back under her arm causing her to relax.

It didn’t last long.

When the horses bolted forward, everything shifted abruptly within the wagon. Including Lyn’s box. The more fragile goods broke instantly, their contents leaked while the heavier toppled onto the side and nearby boxes. One particular heavy object fell to the side as it weighed down the box lid, trapping Lyn within. The child inside felt her body thrown against the nearest side, her body felt the sharp pain of being smacked hard then let out a small cry. Likely the sound was lost within the outside scene’s chaos and horse’s cries.

Then the smoke started to pour into Lyn location. It was subtle at first, followed by her coughing before it built to a harsh throat rattling one.What was happening? Lyn’s mind wandered while she felt her insides shake and her groggy sensation quickly fade in her fear. Her hand fisted near her mouth in a futile attempt to control the coughing. Tears had started to bud at her eye corners, her vision slightly blurred by them and this caused her to push up at the box’s lid. Nothing. It didn’t move and Lyn’s eyes widened in terror. She shoved her shoulder harder against it, but it didn’t budge. Why didn’t it move? She had started to whimper in distress, unable to figure out what had happened and no clue how to fix it. Lyn didn’t want to die here. The little girl had started to wonder why she had been so foolish as to hid within a crate in the first place, now she was going to die because of it. The tears seemed to pour in greater strength despite her shoulder’s pain and tenderness from her continual pushing.

This was enough to upset her toy into its sole purpose: protect Lyn. Without wasting any time, it picked itself out of the straw to quickly waddle to the box side and raised a small paw. Slink! Five pairs of steel claws, a few inches in length each, unsheathed from its plushy paw suddenly. They were wicked sharp and able to bloody and rip flesh easily when used. It embedded its claw right into the softer wood where it then started to tear away pieces, creating a small hole. Wood splintered easily under the aggressive action and in a short time, there was a small escape and it gently turned to Lyn. It had retracted its claws and took hold of her arm, gently but with firm strength beyond the stuff toy’s body capabilities started to pull Lyn along.

Scared she was as any child would’ve been within this situation, yet Lyn crawled through into the smoke and fire light. Just like her toy wanted. The students wouldn’t know what emerged from the wagon’s back thanks to the smoke billowing around, her features hidden when she stood up in the back. She squinted against the harsh elements while she absorbed the scene around her. Her Aunt Alaira had already leapt the gap to the other side, her feet and body hunched low in the familiar posture of sneaking, a rare thing for Lyn to see because usually her Aunt was a more a head on hunter then her mother. There were other sounds, shouts and a curse, causing Lyn to look to the only other figures on the bridge: Meirin, Ssarak, and Darius.

Lyn felt her heart stop when she saw Meirin’s body strung up between the rope and post, the woman’s face filled with stress and pain while she held onto the frayed rope end. Ssarak was naturally right behind her and trying to help, followed by Darius who moved right past the wagon to the other side. It wasn’t’ hard to spot him through the haze as he curses were rather vocal. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before they all tumbled into the river and was washed away.

She had to help them. Her small figure had leapt over the wagon back, briefly bring her toy alongside her, as her feet smacked the planks on landing then reached out for the nearest rope. Despite it being dead, the rope was made from plant materials since it was cheaper and more plentiful, allowing Lyn to be of some use with her magic. She poured her mageblood into the item with as much focus as she dared. Thanks to Lucilia’s earlier doses still pulsing through her system, Lyn’s magic was slightly amplified to a higher level than her novice skills should’ve been able to do. Some of the rope turned a vivid green and moved, its broken threads started to stretch out and twist about the post firmly creating another fasten. It wasn’t the best and it was temporary, already it was strained moments after its creation, but it might buy the wagon some time to trot across. At least until the fire burn through the other side. Lyn was feeling the past due effects, her hands trembled and heavy, yet she couldn’t stop. The other rope, the one Meirin was holding, still needed to be fixed and it was likely going to be the hardest since it was already broken.

Unable to do it while the group held onto the rope and its end too far from the post, Lyn squirmed in place, unsure at how to tell them what to do. It wasn’t until she noticed Ssarak’s scale coloring that she realized what blood he might’ve been. Remembering what Satori had once told her, Lyn fought back her hacking to gather her thoughts carefully. Then, when she was satisfied with the effect, she put most her mental effort in to throwing her mental words towards Ssarak. She only hoped his wards were down to allow her message through.

‘Mr. Esyire, move the rope closer to the post. I can latch it. Please, hurry! I don’t think the other will hold for long…’ If Ssarak had ever encountered Lyn before, a possibility since sometimes she visited Satori, then likely he might recognize her mental voice in a way. That is if the message got through.

Either way, Lyn scrambled across to the other rope. Her foot slipped when the bridge shifted either by the fact one rope was held by an unsteady post or merely the students started to follow her request was an uncertainty, yet it didn’t matter. Lyn let out a small yelp when she was brought down hard. Her lip split and bled when she hit the hard planks. She ignored the pain. Determined to reach the rope, she forced herself to her knees then threw her arm out for it. Missed. Her hand was a few inches short. Lyn huffed in anger then tried again. Success swelled within her chest when she felt the rope in her grasp, rapidly poured what remained of her boosted magic into it. It would slither through the rope, its strands reached to fix itself once more to the post before its growth died, securing the bridge for a limited time.

However there was a catch. Lyn’s body slumped to the bridge’s floor and fell to all fours, her lungs breathing hard while the scene spun around her. Not good. She knew she had get back into the wagon but when she tried to stand, her head felt light and ached in protest causing her to fall back down. No…no, Lyn whined within her head. Any psychomancer could easily feel her worry and fear, an indication something wasn’t right. Already her toy was trying to pull her towards the wagon, its strength beyond a normal toy, while it struggle. It might’ve not lacked the strength to carry Lyn, but its smaller size made it clumsy and awkward which hindered this great trait. Too bad Uicle hadn’t taken this into account when he created Lyn’s little protector or else, alone, the toy would’ve been able to carry the small girl back into the wagon. Right now, unless it was helped, the process was going to a very slow one.

Coco Bean

"Me?"

In surprise, her leaves puffed out and her face scrunched up. The smell, the feeling of having stepped on fleshling parts and the sounds of flames licking at the surfaces of ruined houses were... Oddly interesting. Still gross, mainly because she knew most fleshlings were nice creatures, and to be stepping on their guts was disconcerting.

Confused, interested and overall feeling sick, Coco wielded her spear--And then flicked the pointy metal end. The high sound was enough for her to know what she was up against. The fleshling was clearly not fully developed, by the sound of its voice and the faintest 'baby-smell' that it had.

"Hey, my name's Coco Bean. You can call me Coco. I'm a Foreas. I smell like chocolate, but that doesn't mean you can eat me," Having started her introduction, Coco moved a few steps forward, to the front of the group as she leaned her head up towards the window she heard the teenager's voice come from, "who are you? Are you a human? I think you are, but you're not wearing any perfume. Annabeth wears a perfume that smells like roses, and it's magnificent."

Leaves quivered, as if not knowing what to do. "Why are there so many bodies scattered around? They smell gross. I think I stepped on some of them, too."

She then turned around to face Grey and whispered, "I honestly have no idea what to say to a King to make him calm down, Grey. I've never met a King before."

Annabeth Gulch

The trip was done in silence. Annabeth took it upon herself to man the balista should it be needed, taking some advice from one of the guards before they left. While she knew how to operate it, it was much different from her bow, and the best she could do was apply her knowledge with bows to the balista. At the very least, it made her feel a bit more comfortable being behind such a powerful weapon. Going through the east side of the college, Annabeth did her best not to pay attention to the staked demon heads. They were rotting on their spikes, but when Annabeth would dare steal a glance at them, she swore that they were looking at her, watching her. She shuttered and her had eyes closed doing most of the trip through, until the smell of their decaying skulls weren't on her nose. Once they came to a stop Annabeth opened her eyes.

Getting her meal from the horse bags, Annabeth's lunch was just some hardtack bread, water, and dried fruits. Not the most luxurious meal, but if they're expected to be out here for long, she packed only want didn't spoil if left out. As they ate their guide, Eural, explained more about the Roc. Form what Annabeth was hearing, the roc was well out of their league. Eural made the roc out to be some sort of monster, which in hindsight it was. Annabeth wavered for a moment before steeling her resolve. "No! I chose this mission. I'll see through it to the end. Besides, we have a balista. No monster, no matter how big, could just shrug something like that off." Annabeth tried to assure herself. When Eural was done talking he wanted to know if they had any questions. Aramir shot off a few questions, which Annabeth followed up on. "Are we the first ones to try to take out this roc? Do you think we can lure it away with the horses, or any other beast near by? Do you think it'll try to eat us, or maybe even bring us back to it's nest?' Fighting the roc was certainly something on her mind, but any way to avoid a direct confrontation was just as good.

Caravan Escort

The in chaos that ensued, the caravan barely made it across the bridge. The fire was spreading to the bridge however and threaten to bring it down. The bandits got to their feet quickly and drew their weapons at Alaira. But they knew that they were outnumbered, and didn't have any leverage. One of the bandits threw down a smoke bomb to cover their escape. They ran quickly for their lives, hoping that the guards would be too concerned to protecting the caravan to give chase. But now the college students had one more problem, one that could not be defeated with blades. The ropes snapped on the other side of the bridge just as the cart crossed.

Struggling through holding the rope, Meirin didn't relax even when Ssarak and Darius came across. She certainly didn't when she saw something sneak out from behind the caravan. At first she thought a bandit might have sneaked onto the cart, but what she saw was much worse. "Lyn!?" It was Mar's and Athalus's child, of all things. She seemed to have come out to help and managed to manipulate the ropes to holding together. This allowed the caravan enough time to get across and Meirin let go, ready to leave as well. But than she saw Lyn fall. Worse, she saw from afar that the fire was now eating the ropes. Meirin wished she could have taken the time to talk to the others about what she was going to do, but they really didn't have time to talk. Despite the pain, Meirin ran out to pick up Lyn. As the bridge was falling, Meirin was unsure if she could make it. She did something so stupid, it might have topped what Alaira did. Meirin threw Lyn towards the solid ground, off the bridge and hopefully to safety. When the bridge snapped and fell, Meirin could only think that somehow, someway, she was going to have to survive this. If not, that at least she dies in her hope country.

As it was a hostile scenario, Ssarak had been listening for the thoughts of others, so it came as a definite surprise when he heard the soft voice of Lyn in his mind. He glanced down to see that it was indeed her. How and why she got here was beyond him, but he had no time to question, only act. He followed his instincts and listened to the little girl, pulling with all of his considerable might to bring the rope closer to the pole it had formerly been tied to. With the wagon weighing down the bridge, it was far from an easy task, but inch by inch, they brought it close enough for Lyn to secure it around the post.

Ssarak nearly collapsed from his excision, so he was not the first to see that Lyn was still in danger. Meirin, however, saw that she was in need and ran to grab her. Unfortunately, the other side of the bridge burned to the point that the ropes on the far side snapped, collapsing it anyway. In desperation, Meirin tossed Lyn to safety, but was unable to save herself. By this point, Ssarak had recovered enough to act, and act he did. Lyn might have received a scratch or two from the impact, but she was otherwise fine. Instead, he jumped off down after Meirin.

"Protect Lyn!" Ssarak shouted as he dove after Meirin. He had to speed his descent to catch up with Meirin, and while that did allow him to grab a hold of her, it also meant he was going too fast, and carrying too much weight to pull up in time. In the instant he had to react after grabbing her, he spread his wings both to slow them down, and to do his best to level off. They did start flying level to some extent, but they still had enough downward momentum that they were going to hit the bottom. If there was one thing he had learned from years of playing his favorite sports back in his village, however, it was how to crash. Seeing that it wouldn't be good to land in the water, Ssarak guided them towards the rocky edge of the river, then gave his wings one strong flap before rolling onto his back and wrapping his wings around Meirin, who he was holding close to his chest. Landing this way would keep him from crushing Meirin, and minimize damage to his wings.

Ssarak hit the ground hard with his back, but not nearly as bad as they would have if they had hit straight on. Ssarak had the wind knocked out of his lungs and was generally in pain across most of his torso, but he was alive. He would have to check to see if anything was broken, but for all intents and purposes, he was fine. Once he was able to breathe again, he unfurled his wings and Looked down at Meirin in his arms. His body would have served to cushion the fall for her, so she wasn't likely to have felt the full force of the impact. "Are you alright?" He asked in a slightly pained tone.

Alaira Taenn

Alaira shot forward. Those bandits thought a smoke bomb would be enough? Ha. They seemed to expect Alaira would be worried about the caravan, which would be their downfall. She grabbed one by the collar, pulling him back and smacking him full force in the side of the head with her shield, which was a more or less instant KO, needless to say. He let him fall to the ground like a sack of bricks, prepared to go after the other one (she only knew the general direction he fled to, the smoke bomb was now in full effect) when she heard quite possibly the worst sound she could hear.

"Lyn!?"

She whipped around, the bridge was very much visible as she did indeed see Lyn... falling?! She instantly forgot about the bandits and sprinted forward. Even with her magic it wouldn't be enough... Then Meirin tossed her. She used more magic, dashing to the side and falling to the ground. Before though, she used some more of her magic to give Meirin a bit of a boost up, it wouldn't save her, but perhaps it would give someone the extra second they need to help her. If she died... Anyway, Lyn would have a much softer landing than on the hard gravelly beach. She caught Lyn, the impact knocking the wind out of her. "L-lyn?... Wh-why are you..." She was shaking, the overuse of her magic having a very prominent effect as she held the girl. She turned her head, coughing up a fair amount of blood as she faded in and out of consciousness.

Mar

The next few days were pure misery for Mar.

All the way the wagon's bumpy ride rattled her down to her very bones while she coiled tightly around herself, namely to keep from hurting the others. Though it was an impossible accomplishment which only added to her growing irritation. The worst part, it wasn't the close quarters or the crowded situation that bothered her most but the confinement of their travel. Rock and caves were one thing, usually there was enough room to move at least. A moving box was another.

For most of the journey she was silent like rest of the current company. Her eyes skimmed the desolate background while it shifted from color drained surroundings to the healthy green, so different from the yellows and browns in Yarsomere. She felt a slight pang of homesickness tug at her heart. Even more tragic was the fact Lyn would likely never Yarsomere.

Slowly the carriage ride drew to a close and it was time to escape this wobbling death trap. The guide had spoken more words, many more then before, while they filed out then vanished into ruins. The moment Mar stretched out on the wide space was when she felt the effects of a long trip. She ached from her shoulders right down to her tail, every inch seemed to scream at her when they arrived at their destination.

The scene wasn't what she expected.

Ambers of a fresh fire, only hours old, burned into dimming embers where several huts seemed to once stand. Mar flickered her tongue and winched. The air was filled by cooked flesh and wood, including a scent she was unfamiliar with. Among it all as if immune to the scene of death was a single, large home. It was a disturbing sight to say the least while she continued to examine the carnage. Three humans, Yarsomere soldiers, caught her attention quickly causing her lean over their deceased corpses. Her fingers gently prodded their unmoving forms in hopes to see any clues to what might've killed them. Then the one called Leith spoke about demons being the cause against Grey's earlier observations that it was Noxomancy, Althalus's blood if she remembered right, and Mar nodded in agreement with the prior, "It's true and from the half eaten corpses, it's highly likely demons of some type. However I think this is more of a killing ground then a raid or single assault. Which means the killers might still be lurking about..."

Her eyes shifted past the soldiers and immediately her face paled, all color drained from its surface when she spotted a young, dark haired child laying face down. Mar edged closer. Impossible, can't be, it shouldn't be. It wasn't until her body was inches from the thin corpse did she reach out a hand, trembling slightly, to turn over the young six year old. Her heart pounded within her chest and seemed to drown out her surroundings before her fingers wrapped about the small shoulder. With a slow tug the child was rolled over onto her back revealing the half burnt face and dead eye staring back at her.

It wasn't Lyn.

The reality washed guilty relief over Mar. Still, though she hadn't realized, she was visibly shook up by the thoughts unwilling pouring through her head. Why or how she had come to jump such ridiculous conclusions but she had. Another slap in her face of what she was becoming.

Her emotions were ripped from their rattle state when the teen's high pitch voice came through the door. Mar's had whipped about, her fingers tightened on the scythe Tyrael had given her while she eagerly left the child's image behind. Too bad it was still fixed in her mind when she joined the others.

Naturally Athalus and the others were drawn to it as it had escaped the mayhem. The moment Althalus approached however, a young voice rattled off both non sense and a warning to leave. Mar had little experience to deal with such matters and wasn't insulted Grey chose a better candid, her face tried to remain indifferent though inside was another matter. Coco however seemed to feel otherwise, her leaves out of shape and jerked upright to show her discomfort. Mar sighed then spoke.

"Coco. Inhale then exhale, slow and steady. Calm yourself is a good first step then act as you usually do. Like you would with Lyn, gentle and friendly. The boy is either a victim or the cause of this, but we won't know for sure until he speaks with us."

Auriel, Eural and a cameo from Annabeth.

---

“This almost feels like my job before the college.”

Auriel said absentmindedly as she dismounted the horse she had been riding alongside the cart with the ballista. It was not entirely pleasant to be near the end of the convoy, but it was worth it, for one reason alone. In a convoy filled with women, there was one ruggedly handsome young man who seemed to be in charge, and riding further back meant she could keep an eye - or both eyes - on him.

As they set up camp, Auriel went about stringing the longbow she had ‘borrowed’ from another student just prior to departing. It wasn’t her usual weapon of choice, but she was as much a Ghannos girl as her peers had been, and that meant some degree of skill with the weapon. It was on the upper end of what she could handle, not an immensely powerful bow but enough that she didn’t like the idea of firing too many shots, not that there were all that many in the quiver she had to accompany it.

She finished the stringing the weapon just as Aramir started asking questions about their prey. She listened in, this stuff was important, though didn’t really take it as seriously as her diminutive room mate. Hunting was never a favourite pastime of hers - she was mostly here because of Eural. And perhaps the nagging feeling that it would be terrible to find out her roommate was not coming back. But she pushed that thought away as soon as it occurred, now wasn’t a good time to try and figure out why she cared. Instead she just held the bow loosely while Eural answered the questions, already coming up with her own devious plan to finish her hunt in the manner she desired.

Eural frowned, his eyes narrowed on Aramir, before he noted she had chosen to sit slightly away from the rest. Though she had become less tense when she began to shot off the various questions in a rapid succession. He had to admit to himself half them were rather better than he had originally expected some idle brained mages to ask. He inhaled then answered all her questions in the same order she started them, counting them off on his fingers to ensure he had gotten them.

“One, hearing’s rather poor though they can feel vibrations through the ground and their perch. Two, their intelligence depends on what details you want. If you’re talking about human smart then they fall short so no, though it’s pretty damn close. If she’s seen a ballista before and it’s been used on her, then yes she would. And that will be the first thing she attacks. Three, for the pair question that’s very rare. Unless there’s hatchlings, which its too early in the season for there to be and she’s too far up north, they don’t like each other’s company. See she’s not a native here which if we’re being honest here, worries me.”

Eural had just managed to get a breath in before another of the females popped off her own questions. He raised a brow and sat back, his tongue rolled alongside his cheek then spoke. “No, we’re not the first to take out the Roc. Someone in a village not far from here tried and failed which we’ve learned recently. This thing’s been traveling a rather far distance from home. As for luring it, unlikely though I was sure someone would’ve noticed something was wrong. All the way here, didn’t you realize there was a lack of animals around? I know the horses did which is why they are rather skittish. See Roc don’t kill their prey, instead they hoard them within their nests using the piled wood, branches, and more to corral such creatures in. Usually herbivores while they will eat the carnivores early in between gathering. No one wants to be taken back to a nest by her, namely because it would be your end. Now, any other questions or shall we crack on to a battle plan?”

Auriel smiled as Eural finished speaking, obviously slightly annoyed by the volume of questions from his entourage of women. She didn’t have anything to add about the hunt having thought better, for a change, of mentioning that her specialty was in ruining hunts, not making them successful. Instead, she looked at Eural and drew back the bow, making an effort to stand in the wrong stance with all the wrong posture while also accentuating her body. Letting the string back slowly she said in her best ‘ignorant little girl’ voice “Should be easy.”

Eural’s palm smacked into his forehead when he saw Auriel’s pose, his head slightly sting after the hit. Gods help him, he thought, why mages? He lifted his head from his hand then placed at his side, his eyes turned to her slightly amused by her confidence as from what he could see it was so clearly misplaced. He pushed himself upright and started to draw closer to the red haired elf. “First thing is first, you’re holding it wrong.”

He reached behind her, gently pressing close, to readjust her fingers then her elbows into the accurate position. She was too stiff for the shoot to be of any good or actually be released farther than a cheapened few feet. Slowly he put his hands about her hips where he redirected them to the side and parallel with the arrow. Each time he was careful not give the wrong impression as he sure as hell didn’t want to be burnt to a crisp or some other magical reaction these mages could do.

The exhilaration of success filled Auriel as Eural came over to her, a comically worried look on his face. Her skin tingled under the leather as he touched her hips, and a grin crept over her face when he wasn’t looking. When he reached around her to adjust her shoulder, she purposefully leaned far too far forward, crashing into him as she did. “Oops!” She said in an innocent voice. “Like this?” She said, assuming another completely incorrect posture, more exaggerated than before, winking at him as soon as she caught his gaze.

Eural flinched, his lip bitten in the process when he struggled not to fall over. His eyes once more centered on her during her apology, his his mind continued its patience while he noticed her posture had again fallen into a sloppy one. This woman appeared never to hold a bow in her life which didn’t help her survival chances. Still resistant to give in, mainlynot to be force babysit her, he had almost considered giving her his crossbow instead when he caught the wink. It only took a few moments for the reality of the situation to click: the dame was playing him. Mentally he debated a few seconds before he made his choice, he moved to use his own body to straighten her own against and kept them in very close proximity. His head leaned slightly closer until it was just lingering within a few centimeters of her ear, his breath brushed against it while he whispered. “You know, there’s better ways to gain my attention then playing dumb. Though its rather clever to play me and I will admit, there’s something rather… arousing about mind games sometimes.”

Slowly his hand reached around where it checked her pelvis was set according though it likely lingered slightly longer than it should’ve. Mainly to see if he understood her little clue correctly enough.

Auriel enjoyed every moment of first watching him figure out what she was doing and then as he reached around her, this time without all the nobility he had tried to show before. “But none so fun…” She replied, whispering as he did. “My hunt is complete.” She continued, leaning into him as she did. “Shall we focus on finishing the real hunt so I can… enjoy the spoils of victory?” She whispered playfully into his ear.

“Indeed, though I suggest one thing… Don’t die.” Eural said, his body pulled away while he teased her slightly with his finger brushing the top of her pants. His lips curled into a smirk while he returned back to the rest of the group and waited slightly for anything farther before they would finally determine their next course of action. “Let’s hope that L on your bow stands for Lucky rather than your first name…”

Lyn

Lyn was scared.

Her heart seemed to be pushing itself into her head, her mouth dry, and her scream was choking her within her throat. She had managed to get to her hands and knees while her toy had aided her slow crawl behind the wagon. Her fear was only increased when she noticed how far she was being left behind. Reflexively, her head darted backward to spot the fire, now gathered about the ropes, start to eat the other restrains she didn’t have the strength to affect. In minutes she would plummet to her death. At thought of the landing her head looked down, clearly against her toy’s wishes because it pretty much leapt in the middle of her vision. It used its fuzzy body to block the image of the rapidly rushing current, the rocks farther along, and the fact she wouldn’t survive very long. The fall itself would’ve been enough to kill her.

Lyn felt herself tremble horribly. Her fingers balled into fist while she tried to hurry herself along, a pointless task, and the toy helped the best it could. It wouldn’t matter she knew, somehow deep inside, it wouldn’t. She was going to die. The sound of that filled her with dread that it seemed to consume her mind. It numbed, her brain unable to think clearly or note her surroundings which was she jumped when Meirin scooped her up within her arms. Her toy had hitched a ride by leaping onto Lyn’s arm, close enough the child instinctively cling to it, namely for comfort.

Closer, closer their figures drew to the bridge in a race against the flames licking up the posts and eating the fire. Lyn’s eyes looked over Meirin’s shoulder just in time to see the last of the ropes give away. As if in slow motion, the ropes fell followed by a ripple within the planks behind them and rushed toward their retreating wake. It seemed determined to catch them up within its downward decent.

Lyn’s grip tightened, which might’ve warned Meirin or the woman extremely alert, giving a slight broken whimper. As luck would’ve had it, her grip’s strength fell short of Meirin’s next effort. Without warning Lyn felt herself ripped away and thrown toward the solid ground, clearing the gap by several feet. Naturally her eyes looked backwards with terror and sadness, increased by the realization she might’ve killed her savior with her foolishness. Like a rag doll she flew at the dirt and she half expected to feel the familiar scrap and skinning fraction would’ve had given her on landing. Instead, she felt a warm body soften her fall. A grunt of pain and effort pushed out from her aunt’s lungs while both Lyn and her crumbled to the ground. Alaira’s arms were wrapped around her, protecting her not only from her trembling but any injury on landing. Lyn had barely heard Ssarak to holler to the others to protect her when he dived for Meirin.

Right now everything was in a haze, her body shaking uncontrollable and her eyes stared off to the side. She couldn’t stop. Even if she wanted to or realize she was safe, her mind kept repeating the same guilt ridden thing over and over: She just gotten someone killed. So when Alaira, broken and bleeding slightly, finally caught her breath long enough to ask a question, Lyn’s barely held together emotions burst out. Tears soaked her cheeks quickly while she whimpered, her face buried into the half elf’s shoulder. Her body violently shook even when she held within Alaira’s arms, the gesture barely comforting her. Instead it felt like the world had fell away and she was responsible for it all. Her body started to curl, guilt ridden and unable to move beyond her chest’s heaving that seemed like it would give out.

She killed the woman, someone who saved her! Lyn couldn’t stop the sobs which escaped through her mouth until her lungs burned, and still she continued until it felt like her tears were dried up. Likely when Ssarak and Meirin returned they would find Lyn still clearly upset over the event which had happened. It was bad enough she hadn’t noticed Aunt Alaira coughing up blood, the red flecks soaked within the ground or their return. Ssarak, if his psychomancy was still in tune, would be washed over by Lyn’s emotions immediately. The feeling a mixture of pain, sadness, and most dominate…guilt.

If he edged deeper, which wasn’t hard due to Lyn’s wards completely down, then word would begin to be attached to the emotions. I didn’t mean to kill her. I didn’t mean… she should’ve left me on the bridge, not die. No…

A Little Roc Surprise

Memories of a Skeleton's Life

Many, many years ago for Arcadius:

The moment Arcadius had so long ago touched the cane, it activated. It glowed a sickly green lighting up what was within his small prison, the door stuck fast with runes and ancient writings long forgotten, a dim and brief escape from the darkness. However, in a moment, pain beyond measure, at least one his mortal mind could measure, ripped his body apart. Skin and muscle unraveled like thread on a spindle leaving nothing but clean bone behind and a slight glow which soon faded back into darkness. The last words he would hear before his long isolation were a sweet, gentle chuckling child’s voice. Duuri’s, clearly ignorant that her ‘gift’ had both blessed and cursed Arcadius with a terrible immortality, she seemed to speak within his head with utter glee.

“Hey, you found one of my relics. I hope you enjoy my gift!”

Present Time

In the distance beyond the small group was a wagon. Within the main part were things which ranged from College supplies to food goods, and other materials to sell when the merchant arrived. Including a rune covered coffin. Despite its age and burial underground inside a tomb near Yarsomere a few months back, it seemed as pristine as when it was first created. A odd quality the merchant thought a certain vampire teacher within the Twilight College might be interested in purchasing.

Within the coffin, Arcadius could’ve likely felt the whole journey. From his recovery within the tomb, to the excavation, and seemingly endless wagon exchanges but any attempts to gain attention through either shouts or bangs were foiled by the soundless runes placed on the outside. No one would’ve realized he was inside despite any efforts on his part, if any. So, in the end all Arcadius could do was settled in for the long trip. Though he would feel a sudden jerk when the wagon came to an abrupt stop. His bones likely banged against the coffin as he heard muffled curses and anger towards one ‘stubborn ass’ which was the cause of their abrupt and uncomfortable stop.

Naturally what the skeleton within the coffin had felt was the owner struggling with his mule. The beast had stopped its movement and fixed itself to the spot with no willingness to cooperate beyond trying to nip him. Again the merchant cursed. Its braying was easily heard by the party if they chose to quiet down, namely cause there was nothing else to complete with it, while he cursed the beast’s very living existence. Again and again he tugged the animal’s reins only to fail. In frustration he tossed up his arms in defeat and turned, spotting the small group. He nearly jumped out of his skin at that point. His instinctive response was that they were bandits and once more renewed his rein tugging to the road side, the mule unwilling to budge. Instead it seemed to panic. Its nostrils flared and head jerked side to side, its hooves raised then stomped. The flanks tried to struggle out of the restraints which were highly felt by Arcadius’s coffin, not being secured other than a single strap and slammed against the sides repeatedly. Luckily none where painful enough to shatter any bones.

It seemed the mule’s reaction was contagious. In moments, the wind shifted, all the pack animals started to steer away. The mage’s horses whinnied in fear and jerked, their head broke free of any restraints which held them. Their eyes started to roll while saliva spittle from their muzzles when they bolted back towards the College causing their guide to curse and attempt to rein in his own animal. Any attempted not to retrieve them would result in a loss of their rides and other goods attached to them.

Meanwhile, the ballista send was also in deep trouble. The two draft horse used to haul it had showed the same wildness and had tried to rip themselves free from the straps. The largest draft horse, one nicknamed Samson, had been smart enough to start to nip at the leather. With his large teeth it took no time to fray it until a loud snap could be heard and both horses were off. Unless at least one was caught then likely the weapon wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. It would only take moments for the smaller draft horse to head in the College’s direction. However Samson would stick about for a little longer before he too would be gone into the nearest wooded area.

Distracted by the animal’s reaction, no one might’ve noticed the very cause of it. A large shadow darkened over the merchant’s wagon causing the man to look up in awe and fear. The she Roc had come into view. She tilted her wings upright and reached her bluish claws out, fixed to tear the man into pieces when he screamed a blood curling one. A piercing shriek was followed in her victory while she trapped the man within her talons. Her narrow head lowered then started to rip the flesh off her small morsel, the mule reared and bucked itself free knocking the wagon over in its attempt to escape. In the chaos, Arcadius’s coffin was tossed which cracked a rune and opened the lid.

Now he was exposed and venerable to being killed, but luckily the Roc was too distracted with her meal to notice him. At least yet…

Massacred Village

The boy ignored most of what Coco said (his facial expression made it clear that he was confused by her babbling) fixating on her simple question of what had happened. Rage crossed his features, he bared his teeth, and he visibly shook.“They lied!” He screamed down at her. “The creature of shadows whose skin writhed like a nest of snakes, the fire breather, the one with demon blood, and the never ending hunger beneath rags! They lied, lied, lied! They promised that I would be able to protect my Kingdom through the ideology that my family is, was, built upon! Sacrifice, no matter what the cost in blood and pain, for the greater good! I went through with the ritual! I scattered their blood, I said the words, I sacrificed my soul for my Kingdom!” His eyes bulged, veins stood out on his face, and he practically frothed at the mouth. His next scream was several octaves higher, ”And what did they do!? How did they repay my trust, my sacrifice!? They took everything from me!” He began gesturing randomly behind and in front of him.

“They butchered my people! They burned their homes! They rotted them as they begged! They set the Demons from the deepest pits of the Inferno upon them! They feasted upon their children! They left me with nothing more than weeping mama and weeping Beth and an accusing father in my head, and a pile of corpses!” Suddenly he calmed, all movement stopping. His next words were quieter, though still loud enough to be heard clearly by all present. “But they misunderstood the power they were giving me.” He giggled. “They think they’ve won. They think they’ve beaten me and escaped justice. Oh no. Not at all.” He giggled again and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “Justice will be served. Very soon. But for now, I’ll have to wait till the scum that have come to loot my Kingdom have left.” He glared down at Grey and Coco. “Leave now, cockroaches! This is your last chance to scurry back to your homes! Any other word will be perceived as an act of war, and I will bring my vengeance down upon you!”

Althalus

Althalus, in the mean time, hadn’t been paying attention to the ravings of the boy. After ascertaining that the child wasn’t a threat, and that nothing else was trying to kill them, he made his way over to Mar. He had noticed the way she suddenly paled, and her investigation of a corpse. A quick glance at the body of the young child himself was all he needed to guess what was bothering her. So he made his way over to her, carefully avoiding the remains of some of the Villagers. After all, he didn’t want to slip in some poor bastard’s guts. That would just end badly for everyone involved. He reached Mar just about the same time the boy began raving about lies. When he was close enough, he leaned towards her and spoke quietly. “You’re not fooling me Mar. I saw that, and you know there’s no way she’s anywhere but at the College right now. We left her in Alaira’s care. The only way she’s going to be in danger is if Alaira is turned into nothing more than a pile of flesh and bone dust. Lyn’s in the safest hands possible right now. But it’s nice to see you showing more and more emotions when Lyn isn’t around, even if she’s related to it.” He gave a small smirk. “At least now you can’t claim that you have a heart of stone, and emotions are nothing more than waves crashing uselessly against it. Does this mean I can expect passionate kisses, loving looks, and whatever else you care to come up with? He asked, winking exaggeratedly at her to show that he was only teasing.

Aramir

Everything was going fine for Aramir. They were getting questions answered, and laying down the foundation to make a plan of attack against the Roc. She was about to ask more questions, this time pertaining to how exactly they were supposed to get the wagon down from the nest, when Auriel started to play her game. As Eural was caught, as easily as an expert fisherman might catch a fish, she sighed and settled down for a wait. Her eyes rolled as the show began, and the Forest Elf grinned. She had seen this, or variations of it, far too many times to count, in the time she had known Auriel. This case wouldn’t be any different from all the rest. However, as the act continued, Aramir began to feel unreasonably irritated. She wrote it off as being annoyed at the delay in the planning that might vvery well save someone’s life. Doesn’t she know that we have more important things to do then to flirt with the guide? She thought testily, a scowl crossing her face before she brought it back under control. It would do no good for her to let annoyances at petty games cause problems for them during the hunt. She thought no one had seen it, especially Auriel, but somehow doubted it.

After Eural spoke about the L on Auriel’s bow Aramir, somewhat pointedly, continued the conversation that they had left off. “If we reach the Roc’s nest in daylight, and are lucky enough to reach there while the Roc is gone, would it be possible to get to the nest, get the wagon, get it down here, and then leave before it comes back? Or would it be better to wait until it’s dark and we have at least a chance of not being seen?”

Doors.

Doors were such brilliant inventions, he missed doors. If he had had a door he could have gotten out and slapped whoever was bumping his coffin around. Though if he could get out after he had slapped said person he would likely have been on his merry way. He did have things to do after all, if he ever got out. The previous people to cart him around had not been quite so careless. There had been the occasional bump along the road as was to be expected but this ruckus? No it was entirely undignified and he wasn't really keen of being in the hands of bandits again. They were loud and noisy and not a lot of fun to be around when you couldn't punch them. Then he felt himself tip up, he would have put his hands above his head if there had been enough room, which there wasn't, slumping at the top of the coffin he groaned. What he didn't expect was for when his legs pushed up against the lid it opened and fell. Daylight rushing into the coffin, fresh air, the smell of the grass and the flowers... he didn't really notice any of it anymore but he could imagine it being there. He stood up, his clothes being exposed to the elements or what was left of his clothes fell to the ground. He picked up the cane and began walking when he heard the shriek.

He turned to face the Roc eating some poor morsel. "Well, I don't suppose your species is any friendlier now than it was the last time it was about now would it be? No. I don't suppose it is." He looked around, there wasn't exactly anything nearby he could defend himself against a Roc with. He wasn't exactly sure what kind of fighting capability his body had and he didn't really have any runes or the ability to make any runes and he wasn't going to hide back in the coffin. So what did he do? Would he run? No, how would that look. A skeleton running away from a Giant bird. Such a thing would be ridiculous. No, he held his cane elegantly and began walking away slowly, making sure to make as little noise as possible, if he could just make it to the treeline without it noticing he'd be in the clear. To run to the treeline would likely grab its attention.

Besides, it felt good to walk again. Oh look, a butterfly.

Meirin wished she could have known what was happening. It was all just too fast for her. First she threw Lyn, than she began to fall, than everything turned black. She didn't know what to make of it. If this was what death was like, it was awfully anti-climactic. Least of all since she never imagined her end would simply be falling into a river in Djarkel. Kind of disappointing. Whether Ssarak's arms was a better turn of events or not didn't really register in Meirin's mind.

Her head was throbbing, her arms felt like they were both on fire, and she was certain she was bleeding. Truthfully however she didn't strain her arms enough to actually tear them out, but they were pulled out of socket, which didn't make things feel any more comfortable for her. Not one to linger on weakness however, as Meirin struggled to move off of Ssarak, she put her shoulders back into position, with a sickening and unnatural crunching sound. Despite being somewhat ready for this, she still screamed out in pain, and even did the same with her other arm. This was, at best, a rudimentary solution to her problems however, and she would like to see a professional healer to ensure that she makes a full recovery. But that wasn't on her mind right now. All she could think about was the pain and trying not to make a mess of herself in front of Ssarak. Meirin couldn't even say anything that didn't come out as a pained whimper. All she could think about was a single phrase while leaning weakly against Ssarak's body. "I'm so weak..."

Despite her thoughts, Meirin knew she had to get out of here. Once she gathered enough of her strength to stand steady she began to walk. She didn't really know where she was going, but she was starting to become more lucid, and knew that she was looking for some way out of the riverbed and back to the caravan. Her body was swaying and she was still staggering, but she was determined to get back to the caravan. She had something to say to Alaira, and it was this fury that fueled Meirin.

Alaira Taenn

Alaira laid there, holding Lyn in her arms... Shaking, she reached in her pocket, and pulled out her two emergency Vitamancy runes. She got these several years back, but had never had them when she needed them. One for Lyn, and one for Meirin, if she lived... "I-I'm so sorry Lyn... So sorry..." She coughed out, tears running down her face as she pressed the rune against Lyn's forehead. The rune would heal any thing on her save the ridiculously life threatening, like getting severed in half. But she understood the child quite well, and she knew what she was thinking... She looked to her left, Ssarak had indeed saved Meirin... "Lyn... M-mei's fine, Lyn... Stop crying..." She said, coughing onto the ground some more as she ran a hand through her hair...

She shoved the other stone into Lyn's hand and set her down onto the ground beside her. "P-press that against... Against Mei's Head like I..." She paused, coughing some more. "Like I did with you..." It wasn't a moment after she finished directing her that she fell unconscious...

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

In her current state, Meirin's thoughts could easily be heard in Ssarak's mind. Not that he needed them to confirm what he could see plainly with his eyes. She was hurt, weakened by both her exertion on the bridge and the fall. Ssarak was hardly in perfect condition himself, but he had not been trying to hold up the bridge alone for any amount of time as she had. Beyond Meirin, he also heard another set of thoughts, farther away, quieter, but more panicked. It seemed that Lyn did not see him dive after Meirin, so she thought she caused her death. Fortunately, Ssarak was in a position to calm her worries.

"Do not worry, little one. Meirin and I are alive, we merely need to find a way back up." He reassured her telepathically.

Ssarak stood up as well, his body sore from the impact. The joints in his wings cracked painfully as he folded them back into position. He had managed to cut down the damage they received, but they did not escape unharmed. Parts of the membranes were torn closer to his body, and the muscles which controlled the wings were very sore. He didn't believe it would damage his aerodynamics enough that he could not fly entirely, but it would make it more difficult. He doubted that they would be able to carry both himself and Meirin, which meant they would need to find another way up. First, however, he needed to calm Meirin and check the extent of her injuries.

"Hold, Meirin. Listen to me." Ssarak began as he approached her. She didn't seem to be entirely in her right mind, so he placed a hand on both of her shoulders to stop her, then stood directly in front of her. He moved his hands up to either side of her face and slowly brought up her eyes to look directly into his. "Be calm, and focus on me. You are hurt; Alaira can wait. Right now, I worry for your health. How badly are you hurt? And please, do not tell me that you are fine. I need to know where and how severely you are injured. Please, be honest; after all you have done for me, I am not going to let you bring harm to yourself."

Leith listened to the teenager's story. It gave him an idea of how many mages they were dealing with. The power that they supposedly gave the kid interested Leith. If he could, he would have asked about it, but it sounded like the kid thought they were looters. Leith shook his head and checked his cloak to see if his hand was covered before addressing the child.

"We are not looters. We've been assigned to the task of tracking rouge mages and stopping them. They've attacked villages other than this one. Besides, who would be stupid enough to loot a village that is still smoldering?" He glanced at Grey before he continued. "We'll leave, but could you answer one more question? Where did they go? We could possibly find them ourselves, but the information would help."

---

Darius

The next few moments were a blur. A child had come from the wagon and helped secure the ropes long enough to get the wagon across. Then everyone hurried to protect her while he sat and regained his breath. When everything was done, Alaira and the child were on the ground next to him, and Ssarak and Meirin were out of sight. He stood up to see over the edge and was relieved to see that they were alive. It would be a shame to lose over half of the guard for the wagon.

Alaira seemed to know the child, and was looking devastated at the fact that she was here. Darius nodded to himself. The child, Lyn, would be a great tool in making Alaira see how her impulsiveness could have killed someone. He glared at her unconscious form before he went to go check on the wagon driver.

"I am sorry for all of this." He pointed at Alaira over his shoulder with his thumb. "It was a stupid, stupid move, but I believe that she will have a change of attitude very shortly."

Annabeth Gulch

With Annabeth's questions answered, she started to formulate plans. While she was certainly scared for what's to come, she had enough faith in everyone's ability that Annabeth was willing to think up of some fairly risky ideas too. She was going to ask more questions when Auriel started flirting with their guide. Annabeth signed and redirected her attention to her own thoughts, taking out a notebook to draft ideas. She had planned to try to hunt some of the bigger game creatures around the area and see if they could hide Aramir inside, that way she could infiltrate the nest and work her way out from the outside while the rest of the group assaulted from the front. She didn't get much time to do more thinking however, when she heard the horses start a fuss.

Annabeth looked towards the wagon and noticed one of the horses nipping at his restraints. Both the horses were soon freed and fled before Annabeth could get up. "What?! Guys, we lost the horses! We have to go after it!" Annabeth got up and began to chase after Samson towards the forest. Though he was much faster, Annabeth was fast enough even with all her gear to keep it within her sight. She knew that once it did reach the forest, it would be easier to catch Samson since there wasn't as much room for him to maneuver, though she wasn't worried about that. There were monsters and powerful beasts in the forest, not to mention the roc roaming the area. She continued to chase the horse into the forest, but than saw something in the distance. It looked like... A skeleton.

Caravan Escort

As the grassy field and the bridge burned to ashes, the party regrouped but the caravan master was very angry. Mainly because of Alaira's antics, but also because of Lyn. They had no idea how she got there, and frankly, they cared nothing for her. As far as they knew, she was a liability for the mission and their safety. The caravan master made this much clear. "Look, I'm willing to overlook that girl's dumbass idea that nearly burned us all alive, but we can't keep the kid with us. We don't have space in the wagon for her to ride in and it's not our job to babysit her! So you guys need to figure out what to do with her before we left the next town. It's bad enough that we have this dumb bitch trying to kill us all, we don't need another handicap!"

Soon enough the group arrived to a small farming village called Wayward. They arrived just before sunset, with the locals still out for last minute work but with most of the villagers filing in for the night. The caravan group weren't the only visitors; there was another group of traveling merchants trying to hawk their wears for "Anti-Demon" items. As the caravan rode into town they garnered some attention mostly due to how outlandish they looked. A man from Yarosmere, an Eysire, a traveling monk, and Alaira. The caravan pulled up near the village's inn, which the college provided enough money for the night. There was also a physician in the village to treat any injuries the group had, though they'd have to pay out of their own pocket. Lastly, there was a group of young men patrolling the town with makeshift weapons, to deter trouble makers. While they were large and strong, they weren't professional warriors by a long shot, but they served their purpose.

The caravanners would be resting at the inn for the rest of the night, and in an hour or two would head to bed. A smithy was still open working on some farming tools in quick order, with his magic abilities apparently obvious. The Physician was also open but currently tending to his garden. Some of the merchants would also attempt to get the caravanners to look at their wares. They didn't have many weapons, though they did have other trinkets they attempted to sell off as "Anti-Demon Charms".

Lyn and Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Lyn’s heart clenched deeper into her chest as if someone had squeezed it tightly, inwardly prayed her idiotic actions hadn’t worsened things. If only she had asked Lucilia more about the little vials before the vampire helped smuggle her inside, then maybe, despite the reality, she could’ve braced for the downward spiral. At least grabbed a hold of the wagon’s edge first.

Why…why wasn’t she better at this? Lyn inwardly scolded herself.

Her drowning eyes peered up, her body still shaking, when she felt Alaira move. The half elf pulled out two strange stones, each marked with a series of sigils and symbols, a blue glowing ink filled the creases, into a complex circular pattern over the flat face. In the center was a star. Both rune looked crude and rather silly, however they held an intermediate’s artist’s pride and soul which to heal several types of wounds. For a moment Lyn’s tears had ceased to look at the item in awe before it was placed upon her forehead. Warmth, followed by a pleasant tingle swirled from where the rune came into contact with her skin. Her skin took on a soft, slight glow that made her outline a bit fuzzy in its check over her. Other than a few bumps and bruises, the rune didn’t find anything life threatening to heal. However, instead of fading back to its original state, the blue ink glowed a slight red in response to something unknown.

Something beyond its design to heal as the cause was unknown.

It was a brief display, one so short and subtle, that in Alaira’s condition it was reasonable she wouldn’t have paid any thoughts to it. Or noticed it. Lyn had never seen any of Sam’s healing runes do that before, but then again she hadn’t had one used often on her. Usually her mother wanted her to heal naturally, to boost her own immunity, and gain some toughness in her skin from it. Even broken bones, a rarity with everyone’s, namely Alaira and her father, observant eyes and quick actions, had requested to remain for a few days before being mended. It was a lesson well learned though only for a few weeks before she started to climb once again.

Once the rune deactivated, Alaira’s words started to peer through her rattled emotions.

“I-I’m so sorry Lyn…So sorry…”

What did she have to be sorry about? Lyn wondered, worried her Aunt had done something bad but quickly tossed the notion away. Alaira wouldn’t do anything bad. She was a good person, even if she had her flaws, Lyn’s arms tightened to squeeze what little comfort into her care taker. To say it was going to be alright. However it seemed to help very little while Alaira continued, her throat rattled and blood specks were thrown up from the harsh sound.

"Lyn... M-mei's fine, Lyn... Stop crying..." Lyn felt a wave of guilt again edge into her heart.

She hated to see Alaira’s state. Gently she felt her hair stroked and gave a forced smile, her hands gripped tightly about the rune placed into her hand. Then slowly she was lifted, listening to each word and growing more tensed with each cough, then placed to the side as Alaira collapsed. Quickly Lyn placed the rune down and tried to shake Alaira. She whimpered, fearful her caregiver wasn’t going to wake. Gently she leaned her head down, her ear strained for any sign of life, rewarded by two glorious things: a heartbeat, faint, but strong followed by shallow breathing. Lyn lifted her head to looked pleadingly to Darius, missing his glare at Alaira earlier, for help yet the man had already turned his back to deal with the driver.

It was then, Ssarak’s voice filled with soothing and reassurance. ‘Do not worry, little one. Meirin and I are alive, we merely need to find a way back up.’

Lyn nodded, but while the guilt had faded, the worry hadn’t. Please hurry... Lyn said, using the name she had heard once before used for the young woman. It likely would be rather clear to them Lyn hadn’t had any experience with severe cases of Blood Sickness, even her own was mild compared to Alaira’s action. She didn’t know she was witnessing a severe reaction due to overexertion and past consequences, the latter from a time she was too young to understand.

Ssarak could still hear Lyn's voice, her fear, in his mind. He had only caught a glimpse of Alaira before he dove after Meirin, but from the thoughts he could hear from the others, he could tell she was not in a good position. His eyes darted around the landscape until he spotted a section of the hill by the river that seemed just shallow enough for them to climb. "We need to get up to the others; I believe Alaira is in trouble." Ssarak informed Meirin. He did not like moving on without assessing her injuries, but the situation did not afford them the luxury of time. Regardless, he kept a close eye on Meirin and gave help when needed.

Given that Alaira was unconscious for much of the trip, she stayed in the wagon while Ssarak carried Lyn. Although she could walk on her own, with what Lyn had been through, Ssarak assumed that she would be exhausted. His outward armored appearance might not suggest it, but Ssarak was surprisingly gentle in handling Lyn. After having gone through raising three children of his own, he knew exactly how to hold her in order to keep her comfortable, despite his armor. Indeed, unless there was something fundamentally different about her that he was not already aware of, then caring for her would be well-within his skill set.

Ssarak heard the caravan driver's objections to Lyn's presence, but he mostly remained silent and ignored them. No matter how much he shouted or argued, it would ultimately be up to the guards on how to proceed, as it was they who had the position of strength in this situation. He could not continue on without them, and it would even be dangerous for him to just try and return to the college alone. Despite this, Ssarak did agree at least partially with the caravan master. He did not believe it safe nor wise to complete their mission with Lyn. He was hardly going to abandon her or anything, but he did feel that it would be best just to turn around and head back to the college. They could try making the trip again later, and whatever they would gain by proceeding with the mission could not be worth risking Lyn's life.

As they entered the town, there were a fair number of issues to deal with. The caravan master was handling their rooms, and Ssarak did not believe his own injuries serious enough to warrant paying for the physician, but Ssarak was concerned for the health of Meirin and Alaira. Even if she had nearly caused their deaths, he did not wish to see her harmed. After she recovered, however, they would need to confront her about her recklessness. Lyn was someone she cared about deeply, so perhaps hearing how she had nearly caused her death would be enough to force her to listen.

Outside the inn, Ssarak walked alongside Meirin as they were leaving the wagon. She had appeared to be shaken up after falling from the bridge, and he, of course, wanted to know if her condition had improved. "How are you feeling, Meirin? Do you think it will be necessary for you to visit a healer?"