---

Vael, in this case, did not pay as much attention to Grikgar’s attitude as he did the plan itself. The Unggoy, it seemed, had taken some of his own initiative. Vael kept firing, and kept up pressure, until his carbine’s magazine was empty. Without missing a beat, he drew the plasma rifle and continued to lay down suppressive fire over the area until the detonation finally came.

The secondary explosive was a shaped charge, intended to cut through the platform from below. It was more limited in area of effect than an explosive on the platform would have been, but it had been placed well. Evidently, Grikgar had observed the area and correctly guessed where many of those on the platform would flee to. The blast tore through the platform, killing some Kig-Yar and a few Sangheili immediately, while sending out a shockwave that knocked several others around them off their feet. From where he was, Vael could see several shields flare, and a few break, around the explosion. Hostiles had stopped coming out from inside the structure, so there were likely few remaining inside.

The explosion had created some cover on the platform, by virtue of the warped metal plating from the floor, but it had also created an opportunity. Many of the remaining hostile Sangheili now had weakened or depleted shielding, though that advantage would not last long, if they were allowed to recover.

Vael ejected the magazine from his carbine and slotted in a new one in one quick motion. ”The enemy is weakened, push the advantage!” He ordered before jumping down onto the platform below.

Given that he had to go below the platform to plant his charges, Grikgar was separated from the rest of the team. It would take some time to climb back up to the others, but in the wake of the explosion, there was something else he may have spotted out of the corner of his eye. Movement in the rain, and a silhouette just at the base of the hill. It was a Sangheili, currently in active camouflage, who must have dropped down from the platform above in the chaos, and now had his sights on Grikgar.

Lucas didn't hesitate to follow the order to push in and did so, his DMR still ringing out to buy his squad mates who were slightly farther out more time to get closer to the main structure before he jumped on to it as well, stowing the DMR to draw his pistol and one of the knives. Switching on the Promethean vision, spotting the forms of the Covenant in the rain got a lot easier, especially as his silenced pistol found the head of one of the enemy Unggoy and spotted an opening in the shielded cover of a Kigyar. Hugging a taller box, he waited to the count of three before swinging around the corner, knife first, only to have the Sangheili he was trying to ambush block it and kick the container over the edge. "Well alright then. Let's dance, big boy."



Comi had not been taking shots at the forms exiting the indoor areas of the emplacement like the others primarily because her weapon simply did not have the accuracy to do so, though it certainly had the range. Instead, she chose to show her prowess when the order to push their advantage came, and she dropped onto the platform behind the unit's current commander, his golden energy sword coming to life as she lands. Her first opponent is an overeager Kigyar, who lunges at her shield first. Expertly sidestepping the shoddy attack, the blade cleaves cleanly through its body, even as she guns down a pair of fleeing Unggoy with precise bursts from her pistol. The second and third opponents are Sangheili minors who thought to overwhelm her with numbers and firepower. The first had never given his energy shield proper time to recharge and was dropped by a three round burst from her pistol, the first shot shattering his shields and the next two to ensure death. The second was smarter and tried to keep her pinned from cover, by intervention from an ally forced him out of cover towards Infiltrator Comi'Masam, who bisected him her her blade as well. Her fourth opponent, however, was a Covenant spec-ops member himself and drew his blue blade before squaring off with Comi.

He spoke orders that none of his allies were to interrupt their fight and Comi agreed, passing word to her own that this was her fight, before holstering her pistol and assuming a stance across from the enemy infiltrator, her own sword held Vertically and even with her head in a partial crouch as the pair circled each other.

Tar rose to her feet as Aegis team surged aboard the downed AA gun. She popped the battery out of her carbine and deftly replaced it with a fresh one while surveying the scene.

The storm had rolled over the spine of the mountain range and right onto their position. Shards of lightning scraped the grey peaks around them and splayed over the massive purple weapon they were trying to disable.

Deafening cracks and booms assaulted Tar’s ears, going over and above even the gunfire below her. Black clouds billowed out to obscure the evening light and the view of the forest valleys below.

The rain was increasing its intensity, and a rising wind was blowing it sideways, creating a silver screen which made a mockery of their previous visibility. A metallic taste registered in Tar’s mouth from the water, and a sulphurous smell wafted into her nose.

Wasting no time, the Commando dropped the dozen metres or so onto the leaning AA gun’s troop platform. Plasma bolts flew everywhere; one activated her shield. Plasma grenades went off nearby, jolting Tar into action. She jogged past Spartan Ryker, firing two shots at his Sangheili opponent as she passed.

She didn’t stop though, turning her attention instead to the gaggle of dazed defenders regrouping behind tangled wreckage in the middle. Looking through her sights, Tar loosed two more shots at an exposed head, and one at another shieldless Kig Yar.

She drew fire for that, so Tar jouked across the platform diagonally, taking advantage of whatever cover existed to try and flank them. This brought her close to a low, thin shelter, partially buried into the deck plating. Tar only noticed it when she was practically on top of it because of the driving wind.

Slowing her pace, she covered the wide entryway and approached at an angle. The noise of battle dimmed in her ears as she focused all her attention on the darkness inside, peering past the waterfall of rain water cascading off the top. Her eyes adjusted slowly. Is that…

Two yellow Sangheili eyes opened to look directly into hers, before dashing forward and up the steps. The lithe black frame of a Hunter Killer was upon her in a second, sword shimmering on to impale her. Tar opened fire.

The order came to advance. By the time Yalu stood up and was lining up to jump, the assault specialists on the team had already landed on the platform. He jumped down himself in time to see the counter attack approach against the gale wind. The power swords shone through the rain. The next millisecond and Yalu decided: covering fire.

He spread his arms and activated his autosentry module. In the space of a second, symmetrical pieces of metallic forerunner technology spiralled up to form a winged light above him. The light snapped to the nearest Sangheili warrior like an eye and opened fire. Yalu levelled his needle rifle at the other sword and sent five rounds at where its owner's chest should have been. No time for protracted duels. They needed to take after the storm and roll over this place.

Overall, the enemy did not have a great many of its number remaining, and especially few that had not been weakened by the damage dealt so far. Their ambush had been both quick and efficient in its execution, and now Aegis team was pushing its advantage aggressively to make sure none of the enemy would be able to regroup and recover.

The Sangheili fighting with Ryker did everything he could to give himself any advantage he could scrape together. He positioned himself to place Ryker between himself and the Spartan’s allies so they could not easily give him supporting fire. After kicking away the container, he was quick to dash forward and grab the arm he had blocked to try and force Ryker into a grapple. Physically, the Sangheili could approximately match the Spartan for strength, and he seemed intent on trying to keep this fight hand-to-hand. With his free hand, the Sangheili went for Ryker’s helmet in an attempt to rip it off of his head.

Between the autosentry and Yalu, he had quickly eliminated one of the few remaining Sangheili warriors, though the sentry quickly acquired new targets. A pair of Kig-Yar were sprinting for the edge of the platform, and they were near to reaching it. While it was quite a drop to the ground below, the light, agile Kig-Yar could handle the fall, and they were fast enough on their feet that they could reasonably escape. The autosentry’s shots hit the shield of one of the Kig-Yar, which started to glow more and more brightly red. However, it could block enough shots to give the pair a chance to react. Both held their shields towards Yalu, holding their needlers up above them to fire in his direction while still running towards the edge. Needlers did not need to be fired particularly accurately, and a pair of them could be a deadly threat to even a Sangheili caught in the open.

This wasn't Ryker's first time fighting a Sangheili, though doing so since becoming a Spartan had certainly gotten easier with their strength advantage gone. As the Sangheili grabbed his arm, he leaned back hard, pulling the enemy combatant off balance and towards him, messing up the lunge for his helmet. Letting momentum do the job, he emptied the remaining rounds from his pistol into the Sangheili's shielding before pulling his arm free and rolling away, trying to get space to get up on his feet. Spinning in place once he'd finished his roll, he reloaded swiftly and fired again, hopefully, catching the larger enemy off guard.



Meanwhile, Comi clashed multiple times with the enemy infiltrator, their blades sparking and hissing as they met. The male Spec Ops member was certainly stronger, but Comi had learned how to fight smarter and every time he tried to force a contest of strength over skill, she would deflect his attacks away and counter with a thrust or slash. The pair were well-versed in fighting with the sword as could be seen by those watching but the enemy was growing impatient with the lack of his almost immediate victory over her. As such, he overextended during one exchange and attempted to force her to block with her own blade against his overhead slash. He crowed triumphantly when her seemingly undefended arm when up instead.

The shout of victory quickly turned to one of confusion and panic when a hardlight shield stopped the blow and, despite everything, Infiltrator 'Masam smiled. "Och lad, so close too." Pushing his weapon away, she quickly stepped forwards and plunged her blade up to the hilt in his chest before pulling it free. Dashing to cover as plasma bolts started coming her way, she drew her pistol and once more fired controlled bursts back at her attackers.

Yalu snapped his aim around to the Kig-Yar. The distinct whistle of needlers firing prompted him to take only one shot. He went for the weakened Kig-Yar's hand. His own needle round ricocheted off the edge of the shield and into the clouds -- off-target by an inch. He would have cursed if his life was not in immediate danger. Staying still or moving forward or back would overload his shield and blow a hole in his chest. He dropped into a sprint lateral to the advancing jackals instead, leaving his autosentry to take the homing needles. As he ran around the edge of the platform, his the incline helped his speed but lost him his height advantage.

"Two Kig-Yar running! Centre!" Yalu barked between breaths in his helmet comms. He jumped to a stop behind an external support nearer to the middle of the platform and let the remaining pink needles whizz by. He looked around and spotted a dead grunt holding onto a plasma pistol. Now he cursed to himself. There was not much he could do on his own to stop the Kig-Yar. It would be down to his team mates now.

A tumult drew Yalu's attention up to Ryker rolling away from another sangheili. Yalu dropped his rifle and rolled forward, grabbing the plasma pistol as he went, and knelt with the pistol overcharged and pointing towards the enemy warrior. He let it loose to break the assailant's shield, or else give him a burn that would get Ryker out of trouble.

Tar lit up the Hunter Killer’s shield in the dark with two shots from her carbine. Then she turned her gun sideways and chucked it forward.

Her assailant paused on the top step for half a second, raising one arm to deflect the heavy object whipping toward him through the rain. He was taller than Tar, but not by much. He didn’t have much mass on her either, but he was astonishingly fast.

Seizing her chance while her opponent was distracted, Tar lunged forward and trapped his sword hand under her left armpit. The dual-tips buzzed behind her ear, her shields activated and the smell of singed metal assaulted her senses.

Pushing with all her might, Tar shoved the Hunter Killer up against one side of the door frame he’d just emerged from. Sheets of water poured over them from above. The male looked straight in her face from a few inches away and hissed. “So it is you.”

His left fist smashed into the side of her helmet, blurring Tar’s vision and toppling them both over. While in free fall, the black-clad Hunter Killer jerked his sword free of Tar’s armpit. She crashed onto her back and her assailant leapt on top to pin her. She punched him meatily in the neck as his free hand pushed her chest down. Then she saw him raise his sword and plunge it towards her neck.

Raising her left hand on instinct, Tar caught the handle between the sword’s two deadly spikes. White-hot pain exploded on either side of her hand as the energy bit into her flesh. She roared.

The Hunter Killer leaned into his attack, pressing the blade closer to her head. “Deserting your…Keep, for that PATHETIC…excuse of a Kaidon.” He spat, growling as his weapon slowly came into contact with Tar’s armour plating.

Tar scrabbled frantically for her right thigh holster, her other arm still holding back the sword. But the Sangheili straddling her had his knee in the way of her Mauler. So she groped her arm out manically around her, searching for anything to use.

Despite the carnage and imminent danger all around him, the Hunter Killer appeared to be relishing this moment. He leaned in even more. “Such a shame you’re…too late to save…your brother!”

Tar growled, activating comms while he spoke. "Urgent target on my IFF." She whispered as quietly as she could. She wasn't about to let him escape.

---

Vael had rushed in alongside the others to capitalize on the discord they had sewn among their enemy. Though, he was not concerned with anything except the efficient destruction of their foe. With his carbine in-hand, he targeted the most vulnerable among them first to thin their numbers the most quickly. Unggoy or Sangheili with damaged shields would fall within just a few shots. The fewer the number of their enemy, the less they would be capable of returning fire.

The moment he heard Yalu’s callout, Vael trained his aim towards the fleeing Kig-Yar. They had clear parameters for success in this ambush: none of their enemy could escape. The Human AI was jamming their communications and could prevent the keep from learning from this attack in that manner, but if any of them escaped, that could open the possibility of a warning reaching the Keep. Vael quickly took a plasma grenade in hand and threw it towards the edge of the platform, ahead of the jackals. They both had ample time to react, but Vael did not expect it to kill them. He just needed it to stall them.

The jackal closest to the grenade tried to leap to the side, though wet metal platform did not give him the best grip. He slipped, lost his footing, and ended up sliding a short distance across the platform. He did manage to slide out of the range of the grenade’s detonation, but without his shield in the way, he was completely exposed. Two carbine shots cut through his torso, and he did not get up from there.

The second jackal had managed to stop short and stay on his feet. With his shield directed towards Vael, he unleashed a full magazine of his needler towards him. Even Vael’s shields could not withstand a supercombine, but he did not panic. He knew just how needlers behaved. Rather than run away, Vael dashed towards the jackal and rolled diagonally to the side. Some of the needles still struck Vael’s shield, but most could not turn sharply enough to keep up. By the time Vael was on his feet again, the jackal had emptied the needler’s magazine. Vael had the time to line up a careful shot through the shield’s cutout to strike his hand. The jackal staggered back, shifting the shield just enough to allow Vael to put a second shot through his head.

Tar’s call for assistance, however, was more difficult to handle than a few Kig-Yar. At a glance, he could see that the shields of the Sangheili pinning her were still up, and it would take too many shots from his carbine to break them in time. He was too distant from her for his blade to be of any use…at least, not in his own hands. Vael took one of his energy swords in hand, but did not activate it. For the briefest moment, he judged the distance between them and eyed the rain so he could see the wind. This would need to be a good throw.

”Tar, on your right!” Vael replied as he threw his sword to her. He threw it on a flat arc close to the ground to try to reduce the impact of the wind, letting it slide across the floor until it came to a sudden stop striking Tar in the side.

Tar heard Vael’s callout in her ear, then a moment later the solid impact of his sword pommel against her side. The Hunter Killer was so intent on forcing his sword into his opponent’s chest that he didn’t notice. He growled again and redoubled his efforts. White hot pain exploded at two points across her chest, and Tar screamed out.

She grasped at Vael's sword pommel, turning it round so her fingers fit snugly around it. She pushed it up towards the Hunter Killer’s side and activated it. A bright blue blade burst through his armour on both sides of his body. A look of surprise flashed into his eyes; his body tautened and his growl turned into a wet gurgle.

Tar kept her embattled left arm straight, and pushed with her sword arm. The Sangheili on top of her flopped to the side, still holding his own blade. She rolled with him to avoid accidentally slicing the flesh of her arm on his sword.

Once the Hunter Killer was on the floor, she pushed herself away and teased the sword tip out of her chest. The pain was excruciating - a wave of blindness rolled across Tar's vision and she nearly collapsed. Desperately holding her senses together, she awkwardly manoeuvred the blade away from her, then scrambled up and on top of her assailant. He struggled weakly against Tar’s weapon which was still in his side.

The Commando leaned in close. “WHERE is Falx?” She hissed. “Does he still live?” The dying Elite under her tried to laugh, but ended up coughing bright purple blood.

“TELL ME!” Tar yelled, letting go of her sword pommel to grab his armour at both shoulders and shake violently.

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Under the platform

The fire fight was raging above clearly the second explosion through the enemy into chaos but it sounded like they were still putting up a fight. The sounds of the battle above were muted below the platform the vibrations from grenades and the creaking of the platform itself as it strained to keep its stability under the new load of broken support beams was definitely more noticeable near the bottom of the platform.

The others fighting up above did little to settle the grunts heart with his game of cat and mouse. He was being stalked by a shadow, wasn’t the first time but he did not have the weapons like he did last time. A quick mental check left him with 1 grenade, 3 shots in his plasma cannon, half a plasma pistol charge, and his knife. It wasn’t great but he could work with it. Grik had been able to best a sangheili or two in training bouts before and he knew how the majority of them fought.

He had taken cover behind a rock for a moment listening to subtle sounds and noises waiting for the Elite to make a mistake. He heard for a moment what sounded like rocks moving from a foot step. Tossing his grenade into the vicinity but purposely short of where he heard the noise from the other side of the rock. Diving toward the platform for more cover and activating his own camouflage once he was behind the blue glow of dissipating plasma.

Slowly and quietly Grikgar would find the nearest pillar or support structure he could and climb it to get the high ground. Hopefully turning this game of cat and mouse around on the elite and be able to assist the others above.

The Sangheili had managed to avoid the bulk of Ryker's second volley, only taking a couple of rounds in his armored shoulder, but the bolt of plasma from Yalu caught him completely offguard and impacted his head, causing the body to simply flop over to one side. Lucas signaled his thanks to his Sangheili ally before catching a Kig-yar trying to slip past him and slamming it into the floor before putting a bullet in its brain.



Using her hardlight shield, Comi had already pushed further into the remainder of the enemy lines, her pistol finding its mark as it put down several grunts and exposed a pair of Kig-yar mercenaries to her allies fire. However, as she fought, she noticed that their own Unggoy was nowhere to yet be seen and decided to bring it up to their commander over the comms. "Commander, Grikgar hasn't joined us yet. Should we be concerned?"

---

The Sangheili stalking Grik had little trouble avoiding the grenade’s detonation, but it did disrupt him momentarily from being able to track the Unggoy’s movements. Still, there was no hesitation from the Elite to rush forward after his prey. His camouflage faded as he ran through the dissipating plasma, but he soon stopped in his tracks. He growled when he found that his target had slipped away. When he had started tracking Grik, he had seen only a Grunt. An easy kill on the way to more dangerous foes. For Grik to be able to evade him caught him off guard. He had not approached with any cover in mind, so he was currently in the open, his eyes scanning around for Grik. When he spotted a shimmer, he quickly opened fire in its direction with his plasma rifle.

---

On the platform, Aegis team’s aggressive attack had broken the enemy’s defense. Between their snipers still on the ridge and those that had advanced to the platform, the major threats had been eliminated. Most of what remained were fleeing Unggoy, though for the success of their mission, there could be no mercy for any of them. ”Stay focused. Kill the last of them quickly.” Vael ordered, though he was still quick to try to contact their Unggoy squadmate. ”Grikgar, what is your status?”

Yalu's lungs emptied at the sight of his target slumping as instantly dead as it did. If not for the rest of the commotion, he might have frozen. Vael's voice over the comms brought him back to the action. He retrieved his needle rifle, aimed down at the fleeing grunts, and helped to pick them off.

Tar's shouting made him glance to see what was going on. Yalu's kill, all the slaughter of the grunts with their backs turned, and then Tar's shouting, all combined to bring out a sudden irritation in him. "'Mdalak! Get up! Focus!"

He felt his ears ring with how loud he shouted into his helmet. He felt an immediate pang of anxiety at his outburst. He shook himself out of it and headed for the nearest door to the platform. "Pushing ahead," he declared with a more moderated voice. "Cannot see any more targets outside. The rest will be barricading by now."

He did not move out of sight yet, waiting for Grikgar's sitrep.

Being shook about proved to be too much while impaled by a sword. The Hunter Killer let out one last ragged breath, then his eyes closed and the struggling stopped. Gusts of wind drove sheets of rain across Tar’s back and the dead Sangheili under her. Purple Lightning crackled all around the weapons platform as the stormfront rolled over. The black clouds sucked all other light out of the sky.

The sound of her teammates in her ears died away to just a dull echo. Tar pulled the sword out of her opponent’s side and changing position, sawed through his neck. Yanking on his helmet, she tore the Hunter Killer’s head from his shoulders. Clambering to her feet, Tar took a short run up and threw the head as hard as she could off the side of the platform.

There was no stopping the wave of pent up rage now. She turned her head to the obsidian clouds, puffed out her chest and let out a bloodcurdling roar, talons grasping thin air out to either side of her body.

---

There was no immediate response from Grikgar, so with the platform cleared, Vael rushed to the edge to try to get a line of sight on the ground below. He had heard the sound of plasma fire echoing up from below, so he took aim down beneath him as soon as he reached the edge. However, by the time he arrived, he found no target to shoot. He spotted Grik climbing up the side of the ridge, leaving behind a dead Sangheili beneath him.

Vael joined soon in storming the barracks, though there ended up being no one left inside for them to fight. Once they had started their attack, all of the warriors garrisoned inside had joined the fight. After they confirmed that the barracks were clear, that marked the last objective they needed to complete while they were here. The cannon was too damaged to be used, and there was no one left alive to report back to the keep. As long as the Human AI’s communication jamming had been successful, then they now had a window to begin their attack on the keep.

”The area has been cleared. Have we sustained injuries?” Vael asked succinctly.

"All good here, boss. Should send the all clear to the fleet to let them know the objective's complete." Ryker approached Yalu and offered him his hand for a handshake. "Thanks for the save, Major. Was a little too close for comfort there."



"I'm unharmed, Commander. Securing any hidey holes that we might have missed."

---

In the aftermath of the battle, the cannon was left sufficiently destroyed for their purposes. Certainly, it could not fire in its present condition, and while it could be sabotaged further, there was always the possibility that it could be repaired when the Keep was retaken. Shih was confident that she had been able to jam any attempt at communications during the attack, so the way had been cleared for the assault on the Keep. Following Tar’s guidance, they took an alternative path back down the mountain to their vehicles. While it would have been unusable during the storm, the worst of it had already passed. All that remained was comparatively light rain. Even on spectres, it took hours to get to a safe distance, but they were eventually able to extract back to the ship.

---

Vael spoke little to the others in the time before the assault was set to begin, apart from what was necessary. He did spend some time going over the plan for the assault itself. In short, their one and only goal for their attack was to reach the Kaidon himself. There was enough support for the Swords of Sanghelios among the Keep’s population, but they were honor-bound to follow their Kaidon. If he could be deposed and Tar claim the position of Scion, that would grant the citizens an excuse to stand down that would still satisfy their honor. Perhaps there might still be some Covenant zealots that would oppose them, but the battle would essentially be over as soon as the Kaidon fell, so as long as Tar survived. For that reason, their plan was to make a powerful, direct push straight to the Keep itself. They would cut through anything in their way, but they aimed not to fight any more than necessary. The less damage they did and the fewer casualties they inflicted, the stronger the city would be as an ally. Certainly, the plan was risky. If they did not properly secure and defend the territory they captured, then they opened themselves up to be surrounded once they were in the Keep. Should their plan fail and they were unable to depose the Kaidon, they could end up being trapped.

Standing before a wraith in the hangar, Vael observed as a pair of technicians gave it a last check before the battle, as others were with the rest of their vehicles. It would be more than Aegis team participating in this assault, but as Aegis was the spearhead, they had the full choice of how they wanted to proceed in the attack. They would have the choice of Human vehicles that had been brought aboard the Blockade Runner, or of its own stock of vehicles. Any class, from light to heavy armor, was available if they chose.

Lucas was already in the hangar on the other end, speaking with several engineers about the use of one of the needler hogs in the assault on the Keep and one of them continued to argue. "You're going to need heavy firepower to breach those defenses and while the Needlehog is great against infantry, you're looking at, bear minimum, gun emplacements, heavy anti-vehicle, maybe even Hunters. I'm sorry, Spartan, but it just doesn't make sense." Ryker sighed as he rubbed his temple and met the man's eyes.

"And all of that is going to be screened by infantry and while the traditional .50 caliber rounds are great for general use, the quicker we can cleave through that infantry. We've all seen how effective supercombines are against soft targets." The implication of what he meant was enough to make the engineer who had been arguing with him shut up, which gave the other, a woman who looked ready to strangle her fellow, the chance to speak.

"We can prep one for ya, Spartan, but only the one. The others will be needed elsewhere."



Comi was in the armory, prepping for the assault and what they could run into. Despite her usual preference for a plasma pistol, she had traded it for the higher fire rate of a plasma rifle, which would work better for the assault ahead of them.

Tar wrenched off her breastplate and perched on a large crate to receive medical attention. A diminutive male in physician's garb leaned in to inspect the cauterised puncture marks on her chest.

"Internal bleeding is common with sword wounds, but fortunately yours are only shallow. Do you feel any weakness, numbness or tingling?"

"I feel well." Tar growled. The adrenaline of their fight for the cannon had worn off in the hours afterwards, and a dull ache had settled in. Her head was full of images of the Hunter Killer's snarling jaw and the sword searing through her armour.

"Any changes to your hearing or vision? Any pain in your head?" The physician asked, carefully anointing the cauterised divots with bio foam.

"Only from your incessant talking - bandage me up now. I need to prepare for the assault." Tar was looking past the doctor, searching for someone.

"Armourer!" She called out, raising one hand. A white-clad giant turned off to one side, looked at Tar then mentioned for his apprentice to run over.

Tar noticed the youth when he stopped reverently before her. "Take my breastplate - see if you can patch the holes." She pointed towards her discarded armour on the floor.