[IMG]http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u79/SharpshooterJack/markerJaelnec_zps53b7aa37.png[/IMG]
[h3]The Duchy of Zerul, by a road in southwest[/h3]
The woman did not relent when he pushed against her, but rather seemed intent on trying to overpower him, pushing back and turning it into a contest of strength... something Jaelnec was somewhat baffled by, seeing as he could tell that she would not be able to crush her way through his guard through sheer force. Confused, distracted and generally reduced in his mental prowess as he was it did not even occur to him that her refusal to fall back was just a step in a longer series of planned events. This strange thing that affected him had gotten even stronger after receiving her attack, and by now it seemed that even trying to focus his vision on his opponent was getting difficult. He was, in other words, in a seriously bad spot.
Mother Tigress, on the other hand, was apparently having the time of her life. [I]“Yes, keep pushing into the sword like that! So much energy... that sword is flush with unbound magical energy. Delicious!”[/I]
[I]Please don’t interfere,[/I] he begged her in his thoughts, desperate at the notion that he was practically at the mercy of this creature. [I]Please...[/I]

But before anything else of significance could happen, the extra weight suddenly pressed into the squire’s sword for a moment before it faltered, the two clashing swords parting – earning a disappointed groan from Mother Tigress – as the attacker staggered back, now seemingly forgetting about him in favor of dealing with a new nuisance in the form of the white-haired, white-skinned and white-eyed woman that had just materialized out of nothing – or so it seemed to him at the moment – and simply jumped at their enemy’s back. [I]Thaler...[/I]
Desperate to do whatever he could to help the woman who was at once his apprentice, his friend and the love of another friend, the Nightwalker tried to move forward, only to find that he was still rooted to the place. Growling in frustration he fought against the compulsion to stay where he was, all while the world kept feeling more and more as though it was a ship swaying on sea in a storm, as though the ground was moving beneath him and horrors of indeterminable nature kept threatening him from all directions. He had to move, had to help her... Move his feet, one ahead of the other, come on, come on!
[I]“I know you told me not to interfere,”[/I] that unwelcome voice commented in his head, an unbidden distraction from his vain struggle against Thaler’s power, [I]“but you will have to forgive me for giving you what you need rather than what you ask for. That sword just fed me [/I]months’[I] worth of energy, so I’ll use some of it to undo the true word. The rest I’ll leave up to you.”[/I]
Jaelnec felt a pulse of intense heat pass through his body and suddenly – so suddenly that he almost fell on his face for the second time in a very short period of time – he found that he could move again.

Gripping Roct by the handle with both hands, the squire threw himself forward at the two struggling women, determined to at the very least distract their opponent to stop her from hurting Thaler.