[h2][color=af9d80][b]Roger Falkner and Shortclaw[/b][/color][/h2]

These foreign mercenaries weren't breaking.  It was chaos, but they weren't retreating or surrendering.  They had lost the battle from the start, but they didn't care- they were going to fight to the finish.The knight recalled what he had heard- that these Morathi were slavers who looked down on anyone who surrendered.  Assuming they weren't hypocrites, they'd fight to the death rather than commit an act of shame that they believed warranted enslavement.  One cluster of Morathi in particular could be seen massing- both swordsmen and archers.

[i]Very well, we can do it like that,[/i] he mused as he looked about from his saddle, signaling to his mount to target the clustered enemies.

Shortclaw had been taught to recognize the danger that an archer could present to even an apex predator.  The beast's response to the command was to circle around a tent, keeping low to the ground and out of the archers' field of view.  Roger was little more than a passenger at this point, but such was the nature of their partnership- the rider designated enemies to attack or places to go, and the griffin would take charge of getting there.

Just before they came back into view of the archers, a bright light briefly illuminated the ground, coming from near the clustered enemies.  Either their Hundi mage had just incinerated them, or someone had just detonated one of Lirrah's alchemical concoctions.  As they crept into view from around the tent, Roger saw that neither of those presumptions were correct- it had been one of Kayliss' bombs, and it looked like the rogue was taking advantage of their disorientation to kill as many as she could.

[color=af9d80][i]She could use some help.[/i][/color]

Shortclaw pounced, coming down on top of one the archers, then gave a cry and beat his wings to unbalance the rest of them.  The griffin clearly wanted to be noticed.

[@Psyker Landshark]