After seeing that his client were going to be busy with another woman, he yelled out to him:

I will be going now. I believe the group would be safer for the time being.

With that said, he turned about face and left the inn. The breeze flowed past his face, bringing a good chill. Nice to know that such simple things were still in this world. He grabbed one of the horses he had left in front of the inn, a black gelding, and began to ride in the direction of the stable, where he would wait for his client.

Talbot cursed when the man continued to rush toward him. However, a woman darted to his rescue. His brown eyes raised toward her, hardened with fear. "They almost had me there." He breathed out. "Thanks... I wouldn't know what I would have done." he looked up at the rest of the enemies, growling a spell under his breath. After a well aimed Thoron hit a man, he glanced around. They seemed... elite. "Who are they?"

Lumara nearly jumped out of her skin when Logan shook her leg. She leapt up, noticing that Caius was becoming edgy. Great. Just... great. She hoped that she could get some sleep, but... it didn't seem that she was. The blond haired woman cursed loudly, sitting properly in the saddle and kicking her heels into Caius. "Come on, Caius!" she yelled. The beast swooped down until he was about thirty or so feet above the men. "Shoot." she told Logan.

Fara awoke in a strange bed, her head throbbing as if she'd been bludgeoned into unconsciousness, her eyes taking a while to acclimatise to the brightness filling the room. It was day and she was inside a small room, lying on a dingy wood-framed bed in nothing but her leggings and a loose-fitting shirt which, from the size, appeared to belong to some kind of half-giant. She swung her legs around off the bed and tried to focus on the noise she could hear in the distance. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it in her present dazed state. She stood up, the blood rushing from her head forcing her to sit back down again with a thump. At this, a stir came from underneath her room (which she now surmised was on the first floor of whatever building she was in) and footsteps came hurriedly up the stairs. A dumpy middle-aged woman appeared at her doorway with a large smile plastered across her face and a large jug of water in her hand.

"She's awake, Alfred!" The woman called before marching into the room, pouring out a cup of water and thrusting it in Fara's direction. "You'd best drink up, girl. You was half dead when your beastie dropped you at the town gate. Dehydration. Surprised you managed to make your way across the desert without a water canteen.. even more surprised no-one mentioned that you'd need one.. 'specially since you're clearly some kinda soldier.."

"Did you yell something, Mavis?" The aforementioned half-giant appeared at the door. A large man who had to duck to see through the low doorway, with a beard which hung down his face like a damp washcloth. "Oh, she's awake is she? Good.. I'll leave you two to.. whatever womanly troubles are.. you know.." And with that he wandered off without bothering to finish the thought. Mavis chuckled slightly, then turned back towards Fara.

"We kept all your equipment safe and sound. No doubt you'll be wanting to get back to Plegia Castle and deliver whatever news you had to deliver.. wouldn't suggest goin' straight away, though. You'll want your strength back. We can send a pigeon, if you'd like? Let your superiors know where you are an' all that?" The woman gestured to a large trunk at the bottom of the bed, against which her axe was resting. Presumably the rest of her equipment lay inside. Clearly the woman had mistaken her for a Plegian scout, which she could be forgiven for doing as, by intent, Fara had made sure not to bring anything with her bearing any sort of Valmese heraldry in order to maintain her discretion. Additionally she was on the outskirts of a country well known for it's Wyvern-heavy air force. For now it seemed best to go along with the lie, especially since she had no idea how far the kindness of these two people would continue if they learned that she was a foreign insurgent.

"What.. " Fara began to speak, but quickly found her throat was hoarse, presumably from her little adventure in the desert. "What.. of my.. mount...? She struggled out, then took a large gulp of water.

"Oh, your big lizard is being taken care of. Old Josef the blacksmith has been lookin' after him, apparently used to custom build fitted Wyvern harnesses so he's spent some time 'round the beasts. Anywho.. you won't be wanting to head off any time soon. You get some rest and I'll bring you up a nice bowl of lemon and lentil soup later on, clear that sore throat of yours right up it will!" And so the woman toddled off before Fara had the chance to argue. Once Mavis was gone, she stood and walked to the window. The noise that had awoken her, that she could still hear, she suddenly realised what it was. Battle. She peered out and scanned the horizon, one hand over her forehead to block out the desert sun's glare, and spotted her target. It looked like a merchant caravan being attacked by bandits. Ignoring Mavis' instructions, she quickly threw Alfred's shirt to the floor, flung open the chest and set about getting herself kitted up.

*****

Finally she made her way down the stairs, still a little groggy but already feeling about 10 times better than when she first awoke. Mavis looked horrified at the sight of her, axe in-hand, making her way towards the door. The woman quickly scuttled over and flung her arms wide, blocking her way.

"No! Absolutely not! You are ill, you need rest, you'll end up getting yourself killed if you wander off before you're better!" She demanded, but Fara had no time for the woman's nonsense. She quietly shooed Mavis aside with one hand, stopping only to half-turn back towards the woman and give her a silent bow and nod of respect, mouthing the words 'Thank you.' to save her voice. She then set off as quickly as she could to find the blacksmith and her wyvern, without whom she wouldn't be riding into any battles at all.

"I would never allow these scum to kill you." Kai responded with as she shot off another arrow hitting a man who dismounted and ran at her, in his right eye, making him fall the the ground lifeless, by now they were getting to close to her for her to be using her bow, so she unsheathed her Silver sword on her side and placed her bow back on her back. She saw a Thoron shot out and hit a man, and she galloped along on her horse and sliced at a man side going far enough in to have hit his left lung. She then felt someone jumped onto her horse as she felt Midnight shriek a little, so she quickly turned around and blocked the mans swing of his Axe, she managed to push him back a bit making him stagger as he tried to regain balance, yet Kai swung her sword cutting his throat, and pushed his dead body off her horse. She then turned around again facing the right way and made it back to Talbot. "Not sure, but they seemed far more skilled than simple bandits or raiders."

Talbot glanced at Kia, grinning when they were striking down enemy after enemy. This assassin... she had been following him around ever since the Shepherds declared him as leader. It seemed that she only wanted to be around the person who led... which didn't bother Talbot at all. She was a person who was strong and fierce in battle, and one that wouldn't let him die off. But they really did seem like people who were stronger than raiders... suddenly, an arrow whizzed through the air and embedding itself in his shoulder. "Damn." he choked, grabbing the end of the arrow and wincing. At least... it didn't hurt too much... but... "I hate... fucking... archers..."

Logan was not expecting the sudden drop, nearly letting go of the Mire Tome as the wyvern dropped like a stone, nearly biting his tongue as the ground sped up to meet the rapidly accelerating beast.This was it. He was going to die here, because a woman was about to crush them both against the hard-packed sand below. Steeling himself, he stared at the ground as if daring it to take him, before relaxing almost too fast as Lumara shook him back to reality by promoting him to loose his spells. "We're close enough now, I should be able to use something more... Devastating. Give it a moment." He switched spellbooks yet again, grasping and yanking out the slightly damaged Dying Blaze tome. There was a moment of perfect clarity for Logan as he peeled the tome open, and smiled in the most caring way possible at nothing in particular.

The tome fluttered violently, the burning smell increasing until it stung the nostrils, as the air heated the above even the desert norms. Bright golden runes flickered into existence around Logan, his eyes glinting in the unnatural light. There was a silence that was pregnant with power as the Dark Mage pointed directly at the center of the group of attacking men, and gave a short burst of harsh laughter. For a fraction of a second, nothing happened. Then... it happened. There was a flash of light and heat as something exceptionally small and yet non-existent became very big and very real in a split second. Fire and force mixed in the resulting explosion that splattered flames across a huge area, several of the seeming bandits taking the brunt of the destructive spell. In Logan's hands, the tome singed and shriveled, the fire in it dying down to black, unreadable embers. The mage's harsh laughter grew in volume as the victims of the fire screamed in pain and horror as their limbs burned merrily, before drawing in a breath to calm himself, tossing a comment at Lumara's back. "Now that, Lumara, is how to use a tome."

"Can't do it, ma'am, sorry. Mayor's orders. In case of bandit attack, these gates stay locked. This 'ere's a small town, we ain't got the soldiers to send to help every poor bastard what gets in trouble out on the dunes. Outside these walls it ain't none of our business." The Gateman folded his arms, looking down at Fara from his post above the gate. She knew she didn't need it open to get out, her wyvern could get her over the walls no problem, but she didn't like the idea of flying alone into the unknown without backup and even a couple of town guards would have been better than nothing. She rolled her eyes as she climbed up into her wyvern's harnass, strapped herself in, then made ready to take off.

Just then, there was a noise that sounded like a cannon blast and she looked over in the direction of the battle and could only see a small plume of smoke rising over the wall in it's general direction. "That doesn't sound good.." She muttered to herself, glad that her voice was slowly returning to her, quickening her preparations to take off.

"What was that?" The Gatekeeper called and turned back towards her, but was met only by a large gust of wind as her wyvern used it's powerful legs and wings to launch itself upward with the force of a loaded trebuchet. Once in the air, she had a somewhat better view of the battle that was raging. It looked as she had first guessed, travellers under attack by bandits, but as her wyvern brought her closer it became clear that there was something not altogether usual about these bandits, if that's what they even were. She also noted the medium-sized charred crater in the side of one of the dunes, most likely the impact spot for the cannon she heard earlier, though she wasn't sure what kind of cannon caused a hole like that. She unclasped her axe from it's holder, on the harness down by her right leg, and gave it a few practice swings to get used to it's weight again. The merchants seemed to be holding their own for now, but she wanted to be ready to split some skulls as soon as she was within range.

Kai parried an attack from one of the attackers and effectively thrust her sword through his chest, she caught the words from Talbot, and yanked out her blade from the man's chest letting him fall to the ground. She saw the arrow that had hit him, she looked around spotting a few archers. She sheathed her sword and went back to her own bow and got an arrow out. "If you hate them, then I shall get rid of them." Kai declared as she aimed the arrow at one of the archers, and let thearrow fly acroos the field and into the mans head where he fell to the ground dead. She then took out another arrow and aimed at another archer who was frantically trying to get his own arrow ready, knowing full well that she was aiming for him next. It was also true as her arrow shot out striking the person in the chest, most likely the heart as they fell to the ground lifeless as well. Kai then scanned the area to see if see could spot anymore enemy archers that were out in the open.

Just how many attackers are there?

Like Octopus Head had said, this was no ordinary collective of ruffians; this was an organized band with some sort of coordinated approach. These people had this type of experience behind their weapons, but then again, so did he. Not paying homage to the flames searing through the air from above and landing at another detachment of their attackers, his body was prepared for the first real rush of battle ever since the massacre happened. He could finally fight to the extreme and true extent of his resolve, no longer allowing himself to be dragged along.

Zaino's targets had not expected him to be quite the speed demon. He had already reached them in the moment they drew their weapons and tried to assemble in formation, and his own slaughtering had commenced. He stepped past an unsuspecting swordsman and hacked at the person's calves from behind, clipping their legs as he grabbed ahold of their clothing to keep them upright. He held the man up against his left shoulder like a shield, hearing a pained scream from a number of arrows striking his body as if it were a bullseye. He threw the man down headfirst, causing the arrows to jam even farther into his body, the tip of a particular one lodged through the man's skull. Before giving them even half a second to react, he turned to his right and slid the end of his blade across the throat of an axeman, bringing his right foot up to kick him into the second swordsman.

"Hah!" Zaino scoffed arrogantly, appearing disappointed as he wheeled around to lock blades with the third swordsman. How easy it was to overpower the man, it seemed almost pitiful to him. "I know kids who can do better than this!" he shouted, referring to the battle-charged citizens of Regna Ferox. He didn't need these people to get back home. He didn't need these people to survive. All he needed was a sharpened sword, the clothes on his back, and the boots around his feet. All these people did was slow him down.

Caius opened his jaws to scream a blood-curdling roar down at the enemies. However much the beast wanted to rip the men to shreds, Lumara made sure that he would stay still for Logan. Her hands gripped onto the reigns until they began to hurt from the strain. She felt her blood rushing through her, roaring in her ears. She felt her heart thrash against her chest. Her body was slowly slipping into battle-mode. Her green eyes were set on the floor, on the steaming crater that Logan created with his magic. C'mon, Caius. Let's show Logan what we can do. her legs tightened their hold on the wyvern, which made Caius growl deeply. He knew what was coming. "That was amazing, Logan." she smirked to herself. "But it isn't anything compared to what Caius and I can do."

She leaned forward, holding onto Caius with all of her might. The draconic being swooped close to the ground, his taloned feet lashing out to pluck a man off of the earth . The man screamed as the claws tightened around him and as Caius made his ascension. Up, up, up they went until the man's screams were lost in the fierce wind that was produced by Caius's wingbeats. When Lumara decided that was enough, she opened her mouth to bellow over the gusts. "Alright, let'em go!"

Just as quickly as they had slammed closed, his claws opened. The man shrieked as he was sent plummeting toward the earth. Lumara grinned as she looked down. Even though she did not hear the thump of a body against earth, she could see a red stain where the man should have landed and became pudding. Caius gently glided down to the battle again as Lumara brandished her axe. The edge glimmered dangerously in the light. "Why do you need magic when you can fight like this?" she questioned Logan. With a flick of her wrist the axe spiraled through the air, embedding itself in the forehead of a man that had raised his sword to hack off the head of one of her comrades. Before the corpse fell to the ground, she bent down to retrieve her weapon- at the same time picking up an unwanted passenger.

A pair of calloused hands grabbed onto her wrist, almost ripping Lumara off of her mount's back. "Shit!" she hissed, staring into the eyes of the man that had decided to join them. His eyes were filled with fear and anger and bloodlust, and killer intent hung heavy around him. She couldn't do anything. With the extra weight on one side of his body, Caius struggled to maintain balance in flight. The man's feet skidded against the floor, and so would her head if she didn't pick up her act. "Logan!" she shrieked. "Get off your lazy ass and do something!"

---

Blood flowed in crimson rivulets from the wound. The currently bald mage knew that if he were to rip it out, he would bleed a lot. That was something that he could not afford in this battle. He was already patched up from head to toe- okay, maybe that was an over-exaggeration. But it sure as hell felt like it. Talbot winced as he watched Kai take down the archers that were bugging them. One less thing to worry about. he told himself, his fingers tightening around the shaft of the arrow. His dark brows furrowed over his earth-colored eyes as he scowled at the enemies. These men and women are bandits. But they have to be an elite branch of 'em. I haven't seen assassins and bow knights on a squadron of them before.

Talbot sighed, closing his eyes and inhaling slowly. He had to focus on the battle. He couldn't let anyone die. For some reason, he thought back to what Logan told him about sending his men into battle. He could see his men falling around him, drowning in pools of blood. His stomach did flips as he opened his eyes. I have to fight, even if I am injured. This is my family I'm leading. Even though we squabble more than roosters in a henhouse... he raised a hand, focusing his magic in his palm. His eyes locked onto a woman that bore the same colors as the rest of their little bandit group. The electricity crackles around his fingers as he focused on landing a hit.

"Don't you dare-"

The current of lightning basically ripped through the woman, but she remained standing. She twitched once before an arrow whizzed through the air and silenced her agony. Talbot turned to see of flash of red. Ambra was alone, stringing arrow after arrow. She was landing hit after hit- several people fell with arrows in their heads, chests, stomachs, spines. Wow, she's pretty good. he admitted to himself. After a moment of watching Ambra, he turned toward Kai.

"These men and women aren't the Ylissean Army either. They don't bear their banners." he told her. The frown that was originally on his face deepened, and the crease of his brow reappeared. "Maybe Darrian's hired goons."

---

When the battle started, Ambra was terrified. Everyone had rushed into battle so eagerly... especially that dark haired, violet eyed young man that called himself Zaino. He killed without mercy, without thinking twice. Then again, did anyone? Ambra sighed as she pulled off her bow and readjusted her quiver. Picking a spot next to some rocks, she strung a feather tipped arrow and let it fly. A prayer escaped her lips as she caught sight of the arrow embedding itself in the throat of a young man. He would finally rest. No longer would he have to feel hunger or pain...

The red haired woman growled under her breath, whirling around and facing the rest of the enemies. Another arrow that was shot from her bow struck a person straight in the mouth. Another got shot in the chest. Every arrow that took a person's life was quickly followed by a quick prayer. Ambra soon grew nauseous from all of the blood and death that she faltered a bit. Ugh... She rubbed her eyes and frowned. I don't think I'll be taking part in the next battle... this is too much... It brought back memories about the massacre. She remembered so many good men and women dying off...

One of the enemies saw her weaknesses. It was some sort of Myrmidon; he was quick on his feet and had a blade outstretched to his side. Ambra dodged the first blow that came toward her, aimed for her arm. The second tore through the clothes that covered her stomach. And finally, she blocked the third blow with her bow, wincing lightly in pain. With that, she took another few steps back, trying to put distance in between them. Yet the man kept on coming. The sword flashed at her again, the tip driving for her throat. I need help-! she ducked under a swing, the blade scraping by her head. What was she going to do?

Logan's gleeful victory celebrations were cut short as the Wyvern Lord drove her mount onward, nearly bucking him off once more. With a squeak, he hung on to nearly everything that wasn't bucking wildly as if his life depended on it as the ashes that used to be his rare tome fell away in the rushing wind. The mage felt the ravenous growling even more than he heard it. The experience wasn't one he'd had before. Strange. There was a moments reprieve as he felt Caius pull up, then a dull thud rebounded across the body as something heavy and soft was just torn away from the loving grasp of Mother Earth. His lips split open again in a grimace of pleasure as he imagined the poor man's screams, which were hidden quite well under the rushing wind.

They had reach the peak of their ascent when Lumara ordered the man dropped, and Logan took the chance to stuff the ruined covers of the Dying Blaze tome back into his coat, making sure both of his other tomes were still in place, only half listening to the woman brag about how she didn't need magic when she could kill these bandits with her mount and axe. After peering over to observe the man splattering against the now blood-soaked sand, he caught a glimpse of the Wyvern Lord hurling her axe in an almost impossible arch, smashing in the head of a man who seemed to be more than a little inconvenienced by the wound, if the resulting blood splatter was anything to go by. Logan applauded politely at the show, reaching in for his next tome when Lumara urged Caius over to pick up her now bloodied axe. He was about to respond when a rather burly man rudely interrupted, grasping at the leg of his overly-friendly companion.

He glared down at the brute, imagining what terrors this man had committed attempted to both spit in the man's eye and stomp in his nose at the same time. "Got him!" There was a set of several crunches as the man's nose broke, followed a couple of his teeth, and finally his jaw before the brute finally had the sense to let go, slumping and sliding off the wyvern. Logan's viscous laughter was punctuated as he began to activate the golden rune array before he even peeled open his Thunder tome. There was a vague sense of vertigo as the air twisted and rippled, before a horrible buzzing and crackling split the air as a bolt of pure plasma launched from the tips of the spellcaster's fingers, crashing into the already wounded man with a terrible sound that combined both blood boiling and flesh bursting as the water inside overheated and turned nearly instantly into gas. The resulting explosion of bone shrapnel and hissing blood rained even more damage to the surrounding area, delivering no more fatalities but several more harsh yells of pain and disgust.

While waiting on his horse, Kalar looked around. The stables seemed calm enough, but the Shepherds had left already. He turned towards a cloud of dust and saw a lone figure, a woman holding a bow while in shock of a approaching man. Rage grew from his chest as he saw a woman about to be killed. No innocent should face the pain of death. Spurring his horse, he pulled out one of his swords with such strength, a part of his sheathe was cut open, allowing a open side to be exposed.

The horse galloped towards the scene when he saw the soldier moving closer. Kalar could tell they were not bandits for one reason; they were too disciplined. Most bandits would spread out and fight against the weakest person or would fight one-on-one. Soldiers fight as a unit. Knowing such a threat could save any lives.

He felt the ground giving way and he was finally close enough that he would be able to help. Standing on top of his horse, Kalar jumped with the momentum to knock down the man. The sword he had been swinging went flying as he let go when hit by Kalar. Kalar's own sword was still gripped in his hand as he bore down into the lower abdomen of the swordsman. With a grunt, the life left the corpse and his last breath could be heard. He stood up and looked up to the woman.

What are you doing freezing in the middle of battle? Continue to fight if you want to live.

Turning back to the battleground, he stepped over the body and dashed towards a cavalier who was moving towards him. He lowered himself to the ground and swung at the legs of the horse. A crack could be heard as the front legs were broken by the cold steel of the blade and the man flew from the saddle.

Kalar looked towards another target when he felt his skin pierced. He did a quick uptake of air to be able to harness the pain. Looking to his right shoulder, he could see that the lance of the horseman had flown and hit him. He transferred his sword to his left hand and pulled the lance out with his right. Pain radiated from the injury, but Kalar simply felt invigorated. Finally, a challenge!

No matter how many Kai shot down wither her bow and arrows, ten more always seemed to take their place, just how many of these bandits were there? She hadn't known bandits to operate in big groups like this. The ones she always took down before the purge happened, were much smaller groups. Yet even though this was an annoyance to her, she did vow to herself that she would protect Talbot no matter the cost. She then ducked as a javelin came flying over her, she looked back up to see a group of maybe ten of them coming after her. She didn't want to drag Talbot into this and risk him getting further injured, so she moved away from him for the time being, dodging the increasing javelins and axes, that were being thrown at her.

Once she felt she was far enough to where she wouldn't accidentally hit Talbot with all the enemies around her, she switched to her sword and proceeded to stand on her horse in a crouching position. She then turned her horse around and instanly ducked the incoming axe that swung over her head, she then plunged her sword into the mans side. Kai pulled her blade out and jumped up a little doding the lance aimed at her legs, landing and snapping the pole. She then slashed the mans throat. Then took the top half of the lance she snapped and threw it, hitting a man in the head with the tip. Kai then had a shocked look and moved her head to the left as a arrow came soaring by her head, only leaving a small cut on her right cheek.

By now the seven men that continued chasing her, six of them left to go back towards the front line, while one stood where he was. Kai could tell that it was an Assassin just like her. She charged at the man as he pulled out his own sword, and blocked her swing, he then grabbed her arm, and started to put pressure on bending it backwards. He was most likely trying to break her arm to ensure she couldn't do much more. Yet with her left arm she grabbed an arrow from her quiver, and slammed the tip into his leg. He let out a yell as he realeased her arm, which she took advantage of by thrusting her sword through his chest. She pulled it back out and moved her right arm around as she went back towards Talbot.

As soon as Kai got back she saw Talbot turn towards her and talk about the enemy, and suspect Darrian hired them. Well it wasn't beneath him to get someone else to do his dirty work. "Always the possibilty they discarded the banners, but that's probably just my own suspicion. You are most likely right however. With the things Darrian did, hiring guys like these would be right up there in his alley." Kai said keeping a calm manner with occasional twitch as she felt sand go into the cut on her face. "They don't seem to be quiting anytime soon either, so what do you propose we do?" Kai asked as she thrust her sword into the chest of a man who came riding towards her.

As she approached the battle, Fara kept both eyes locked firmly on the fighting so that she had a good idea of who was on which side before she got stuck in. Mostly by watching who was killing who, she worked out that that the female archer, the assassin and the mage at least were all on the same side, and most of those not wearing the same colours as the bandits seemed to be following their lead. She spotted a pair of archers attempting to flank the small group in the center by passing around a tall dune and decided that, dangerous as it might be for her wyvern, the two of them seemed like the best place to start. Banking hard, she pulled the great beast below her into a dive, her axe raised and gripped as firmly as she could. They spotted her before she got within a hundred meters and, panicking, raised their bows and let loose a pair of arrows in a vain attempt to stop her descent but in their haste their arrows sailed safely wide of her. At the last moment before she slammed into them, her wyvern suddenly threw it's wings wide to slow itself and further cushioned itself by landing ontop of one of the stunned bowmen, burying him under the weight of both the lizard and it's rider. His comrade hurriedly attempted to nock another arrow, but before he could raise his bow a well-aimed throwing axe from Fara knocked the weapon from his hands. The archer didn't miss a beat, however, and drew a shortsword from his belt before charging towards her screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Damn.. Fara muttered as she climbed down from the back of her mount and strode calmly towards the rapidly approaching man, her axe slung lazily over her shoulder. "I was aiming for his head.."

The soldier finally arrived within striking distance of her and aimed a wild overhead swing at her, which she easily avoided simply by stepping to the side. From the way the man wielded the blade it was clear he wasn't proficient with it, but simply told which end was the pointy one and that he'd probably never need to use it, as was often the case with career archers. He again used both hands to swing a horizontal slash across her chest, but overestimated the length of his blade and promptly failed to make contact with much more than air. She had to restrain the urge to chuckle. After all, he was clearly trying his best. On his third attempt to kill her (fourth if she counted the arrows from before) she decided to put him out of his misery and brought her axe up to parry the attack, catching the blade under the heel of her axe and, with a forceful tug, ripping the weapon from his hands. Though once again disarmed, the thug was undeterred and threw himself towards her, tackling her to the sandy floor, her weapon flying from her hand. He wrapped one large, grizzled hand around her throat and raised the other back, but before he could throw the punch she brought both her feet up, wrapped her legs around his neck and pulled him down into a headscissor, swiftly repositioning herself such that her knee was applying pressure to his jugular. Less than ten seconds later, the man was unconscious.

"Well.. that could have gone better.." She again muttered to herself as she rubbed her throat, looking down at the defeated archer. Suddenly conscious that there was still a battle going on nearby, she quickly grabbed some rope and hogtied him, figuring she might need someone to interrogate once the battle was over. She then gathered up her axe, climbed back into her wyvern's harness and got ready to head into the battle proper.

When the battle first began at the edge of the dune Neo quickly surveyed the incoming fighters. Luckily he, his brother and daughter were all near the back of the group, buying them a moment. Instead of paying attention to the incoming assault the grandmaster looked beyond the frontlines and saw the ones pulling the strings. A broad warrior carrying a bloodstained axe on his back and firing arrows into the crowd. Staying there with him stood a troubadour and cavalier, obviously his last line if things went against his favor. Turning to Leon he pointed back to the man at the other end of the battle. "We need to get to their leader. With him unable to fight we should be able to-ach!" Interrupted by a volley of arrows, Neo began to turn back, deciding to go around the dune. "Stay towards the back!" he yelled to Leon and Trin, rounding the dune. As he began to come around Neo found himself facing an odd spectacle; on the ground an archer and wyvern knight fought hand to hand combat. The fight was over quickly as he began to approach, but as the wyvern rider began to climb onto her steed Neo waved his tome wielding hand in the air. "My lady! Please, if you've come to stop this group of bandits, I think I know of a quick way of ending it. Their leader, a warrior firing off arrows next to two riders seems to be the one to take out. He is currently volleying arrows, so it would be difficult if you sent your beast up against him if he's a marksman of any sort."

Taking his tome he pointed towards the dune. "If we circle around, unnoticed, we could surprise the three and hopefully end the bloodshed sooner. Also, like you did with this gentleman here, I would like to talk to the leader after the battle. See where his motives lie." Neo tried to hold his steed still, wanting so much to run off towards the enemy.

---

Leon grumbled to himself as Neo ran off around the dune, debating chasing after him. If there was one person he cared about protecting more than Neo, it was Trin. In the end, he stayed near the back of the group, slowly building up his spells to release powerful flames. He saw another magic user doing the same from Lumaras saddle, so he released a blast away from the dune, hopefully drawing the enemy into tighter formations near the dune to exploit. Behind him, Trin yelled over the fighting. "Someone's down near the front!" With a quick kick of the knees they rushed off to see the small group of bandits get slaughtered by a single female assassin. As she carved up a rider Leon let loosed a Bologane at the him before slowing down to a trot and firing a wide blast to the side for deterring attackers.

Trin turned toward Talbot and his apparent savior. "Father's trying to take out the leader!" she said, pointing her sword towards the Warrior, who choose that time to fire an arrow back at them, In short decent the arrow found itself lodged in Trin's leg, causing her to let out a yell of pure pain for a moment before she forced herself to be silent. The arrowhead was definitely inside her leg. What was she to do about it now? With a groan of surrender Trin released a large wind spell at an approaching fighter, knocking him flat on his ass, unconscious or even dead from the impact. Her free hand clutched Leon with all of its might, the pain causing Trin to loose her grip on the situation."N-n-no. We n-need to keep f-fi-fi-fighting."

Zaino had isolated himself from the group immediately at the start of the battle, and he was faring more than well on his own.

Forcing the swordsman into submission and slamming through their guard, he pressed the blade down through the center of his opponent's face and was unfazed by the noise accompanied by the blood splattering across his face as he retracted to face the other enemies. His spine bent back as another loose arrow flew past his nose, digging the end of his sword deep into the sand. He turned it so that the flat side faced his opponents, joining his two hands at the hilt and closing his eyes as he used the momentum of lunging forward to bring the sword upward, creating a shroud of sand that blinded those before him.

Zaino stepped once and allowed it to propel him forward as he kept the sword high above his head, leaping through the dissipating veil as he shifted the sword to the left and struck the first blinded axeman, slicing through the man's hand and disemboweling the poor fellow. He did not relent as he proceeded to attack the next person, a mage, with some form of mercy. He wasted no time on the man and in one arm motion, the head of its owner's body rolled along the bloodied desert ground. Just as he went to finish off another swordsman, he stopped in his tracks momentarily as the pain in his head resumed at its full force, urging himself that he was in the middle of a battle.

After his show of speed, one of the many arrows had finally pinned Zaino through the shoulderblade, having entered from his back and the tip soaked in red peering out of his body. This was enough to numb the headache as he sheathed his own sword and bent over to pick up another blade from one of the dead opponents.

Lumara continued to try to get the man off of her. But he wouldn't let go and Caius was continuing to tip over before he was able to straighten his flight again. However, Logan came to the rescue. In a few moments the man was off and he was dead due to a very painful looking spell. Lumara turned and looked over her shoulder, nodding in thanks. Yet, she didn't say anything. She wasn't that type of person- She wouldn't actually utter words of that kind to her comrades unless she really meant it. And she was sure that she would have handled herself... even if at first she didn't know what to do. Lumara raised her eyes toward the battle again before smirking. There was a lone cavalier charging into battle... a grave mistake.

She collided with the cavalier, sending the rider flying. The horse fell over, screaming in pain and horror as bones snapped in two. Its rider laid a couple of feet away from his mount, unmoving. Probably snapped his neck. "Enjoying the battle?"

---

Talbot's arm started to hurt more and more but he wouldn't let that get to his head. This was a battle, he was shot by an arrow. Thankfully, it did not puncture anything important. If it hit him near the heart, he knew that he would be in danger. Glancing over at Kai as she asked what to do, he ground his teeth. They couldn't just run... or could they? Either way, he wasn't planning to. Setting the Thoron tone back in his bag and pulling out an Arcwind, he sent a powerful spell toward an opponent. It didn't kill her, but she turned and fled. "I don't know what we should do." he told her, growling as he looked around. "I..."
Suddenly Trin and Leon appeared beside them, making Talbot perk. Her father was going for the leader? "Do you need any help?" he questioned, worry flitting over his features.

---

Ambra thought that she was dead for sure. But some man rode up to her and saved her, saying that she should pick up her act. Yes, she should... trembling, she walked closer to an ally (not bothering to look who it was) and began to shoot once more. Thank Naga she was good with the bow-

Kai listened as Talbot wasn't quite sure what to do, when suddenly Trin and Leon came up to them, saying their father was going to attack the leader. Kai looked around not seeing her father anywhere, then she noticed the sand dune, and realized what he was attempting. So when Trin pointed out where the Leader was Kai locked him in her sights when he fired an arrow. It did hit Trin, but luckily it wasn't anywhere vital. So when she heard Talbot ask if they need any help, Kai pointed at the sand dune. "I'm assuming he is going to attempting striking them from behind, so what we would have to do is hold them off long enough for him to do such a thing?" Kai asked as she moved her head to the right dodging an arrow the Leader shot at her. "I probably could hit him from here, but I assume your father has something else in mind?"

I suppose a sword of steel will do, Zaino thought as he felt the enemy's blood on his face trail down his cheek, glaring at the arrow pinned through his shoulder. It was a careless mistake to let himself lose focus, and-

"Gah-" Zaino clenched his teeth as another sword collided against his. With both hands held, he tried to reverse the swordsman's advance, but every single moment of his left arm only forced him backwards. He maintained their standstill until his back suddenly met another's, inching his face to the side to see who it was through the end of his left eye.

"You again," Zaino hissed, the sight of the red-haired woman allowing him to push back the enemy's sword and disarm him. He thrust the blade deep through the man's light clothing and into where a lung was located, kicking the body forward as his back aligned with Ambra's back again. "I'll bet you're the one who put this arrow through my shoulder, witch."

Logan graciously accepted the unsaid thanks with a nod of his own. His current vantage point was all the payment he needed. From Caius' swooping form the Dark Mage could discern individual battles, making it a simple task to identify the way each of the Shepherds fought. As Lumara urged her wyvern into the lone horseman, he caught a glimpse of Talbot short skirmish with a female. It gave Logan an absolutely terrific idea.

He was shaken from his reverie by Caius' rather messy impact, again feeling the sheer power of the beast and bearing witness to the carnage it caused. At Lumara ' prompting he answered, quite jovial at both his revelation and the information that the battle was providing. "Oh, immensely! There's no substitute for battle when testing spells and curses!" Black eyes flashed as he voiced his own suggestion. "Now then. Do you want to know who these angry fellows are? We'll need at least one of them alive, and my spells don't allow that much... precision. That's where you ca-" Logan paused momentarily, glancing at the dunes around them. He sniffed the air, all the while looking a bit perplexed as he slowly continued with: "...I think they have a ma-"
He was cut off by a horrible shriek as a fireball screamed into the side of his body, knocking him clean off the wyvern and down to the sand below. His natural magical resistance had cushioned most of the direct damage, but the fall left him retching and gasping for air as the lucky Mage peeked the dune and prepared for another shot.