Forest of the Fall: A Journey Onward

There was a slight breeze in the wind, just enough to rustle the trees around them as Goliath narrowed his eyes towards a group of varying shapes and sizes, moving through the woods at a staggered, slowed pace.

The group of Mira at his back were silent as shadows as he stood on the grassy outcropping, overviewing the forest where the Aelorans were situated. He was crouched low, nothing but his silvery head poking above the crest of the hill, eyes narrowed as he surveyed the cluster of oddly assorted grouping.

This ragtag group had somehow felled Groth?

There were at least three mage-looking people in the group, one of which was covered in what looked like stones. Two men who looked as if they traveled the forest mingled with the others, as well. A few soldiers – easily distinguished by their weaponry – stood out, of the pack, and there were even a frail looking woman with no weapons and – was that a human child?

Goliath was thoroughly unimpressed.

“Gremroth,” he barked in a hoarse voice, “take Myst and a group of hunters. You’ll attack them from the rear while we ambush them from the trees. I'll lead the initial ambush."

There was a pause, and he squinted into the breeze. "We'll open with arrows while you get into a position. Before your presence is known, they will have already tasted their own blood."

Dorian abruptly halted in his tracks, as his ears picked up a familiar sound. "Did you hear that?" he hissed to Ruan, turning swiftly to face the rest of the group.

"Take cover!" he shouted, just as the whistling of arrows sounded in the forest nearby.

The projectiles flew into the hastily reacting group, and a wet thud along with a cut-short gasp accompanied Lianna, the pale-blonde Aeloran, dropping to the ground with an arrow sticking from her neck.

Even as an arrow embedded itself in Emma's shoulder-pad, the blood mage was barking orders. "Arrow, get us a shield up! We need cover! Ruan, Dorian - regroup! Talos, get us some light, we need sight on whatever's shooting us! Parlina, can your spirits tell us anything?"

Talos nodded swiftly, spreading his arms as with a flash, light spread from their position to banish the shadows of the woods, bathing every hiding place in unnatural light. "To our right!" he shouted.

Arrow's reaction was similarly swift, initial horror at the felling of Lianna giving way to disciplined instinct. His shield appeared in his grasp in a flash of light and a translucent blue light burst outwards in a dome that swiftly formed around them. "I can hold this against arrows indefinitely," he called, "But we won't be able to respond in kind either!"

"Nothing," Parlina called out, concentration apparent as she tried to get a response from her worryingly silent spirits, drawing out her weapons in anticipation. She would not be caught off-guard a second time, readiness faltering as something struck her from across the bond. She had missed it earlier in her distraction but now it was there all the time, intruding on her thoughts.

"They're sad," Parlina muttered to herself, looking forlorn as her eyes followed Talos' instruction.

Emma's eyes snapped to the illuminated attackers - felinoid beastmen, feral features and predatory eyes narrowed in focus - even as Talos shouted, and her staff was already being swung out. Her eyes narrowed and focused, ignoring the arrows that pelted the protective barrier around them, beginning to channel a spell.

Dorian cursed under his breath as the ambush began, pulling out his bow and turning on the spot, "Looks like it's a day for making new friends! Did you know when I woke up this morning I was confident that the only intelligent life in this forest were citizens of just two settlements? Then you guys, and now an ambush!"

The wood elf quickly jumped into motion, eyes scanning the woods nearby for their attackers. He caught sight of something - a brief flash of predatory eyes like pinpricks - and then abruptly his attention was elsewhere. Pain shot through him as an arrow embedded itself in his thigh, taking his legs from beneath him and bringing him to the ground with a grunt. "Today is not my day," he snarled, holding low to the ground and reaching for the wound. "Tis but a scratch ..."

Grabbing Dorian around the arm, Ruan hoisted him back up. “Come on, no time to linger.”

The other elf nodded briskly, wordlessly thanking Ruan and lurching back into motion, ignoring the wound.

The pair made it no more than a step before leather clad figures began to move out of the surrounding wood, spears and bows at ready upon the pair. Ruan's jaw tightened as he weighed his options, but dropping Dorian was out of the question. “Well, trouble sure seems to follow you around, huh?” Ruan asked.

"I normally do a lot better than this," Dorian muttered, "You people are clearly just bad luck."

"I was about to say the same of you."

Niv listened intently from his perch a few kilometers away from the clearing where they had fought the ogre. He hadn't heard anything from that direction in a while, save the occasional rustling of the trees as the winds blew through them. The half-elf figured that, by now, his party must have miraculously slain that terrible beast... that, or it had killed them all before any of them could muster a scream... His bet was on the prior though.

After it had dislodged him from his vantage point and nearly flattened him into the ground, he had fled; mainly out of self-preservation, but also because he realised that there was little he could do to effectively harm the creature. And so rather than allow it the opportunity to attack him again, he navigated his way deeper in to the woods to wait out the battle.

He rose off his haunches, stretching upward as he stood precariously on the tree's limb, and tilted his head from side to side, the bones in his vertebrae audibly cracking.

With a natural lightness to his step, the half-elf lithely leaped from tree to tree, covering the distance between the battle site and his prior point in minutes. As he leapt down from the trees and in to the clearing, two things were very apparent to him; the ogre they had been fighting was, in fact, dead, and his party was no where to be found.

"Ugh... Couldn't have waited for me, could they?" He grumbled to himself, searching for any prints that might lead to their whereabouts. After determining the direction they had taken, he hopped back up in to the trees and launched himself forward, all the while frowning that he had been forgotten in the fray. It wasn't long until he came within earshot of the party again, smirking to himself as he readied himself for a dramatic entrance.

Once he had a clear visual of the group, he noticed immediately that someone was missing; Ruan. He felt his pulse quicken as his thoughts dwelt upon that fact's possible inclinations. He hadn't seen his body back there, but what if it was burried under the ogre's, or worse... what if the ogre had eaten him!

He dashed ahead of the group for a bit, hoping that Ruan was just scouting ahead as usual, and heaved a sigh of relief as the half-elf came in to sight. He was accompanied by someone else as well; someone whom Niv knew he recognised, but wasn't able to identify as a member of the group. It wasn't until he heard him speak that he was able to identify him as the elf that had stumbled upon their party before the ogre had attacked.

What is he doing with Ruan...?

He swiftly crept up on the two until he was directly overhead.

"You're a long way from home, ranger boy." The newcomer said, a strange tone in his voice.

Did he just... Is he flirting with Ruan...? Niv scowled, glaring at the man with such an intenisty that he might as well have been stabbing him. That's my job, you dastard.

The half-elf followed them from above for a time, listening in on their conversation as it unfurled, his mood only turning more lethal as he heard the elf say "What, and spoil the view?". He was about to bound down and intervene when a sound to his right caught his attention. He quickly hopped away from the two he had been watching as an arrow whizzed by them, imbedding itself in the trunk of the tree he had just been creeping in with a thud. Another arrow was loosed, this time striking the stranger's thigh. He held back a grin, all too aware that the situation itself wasn't funny... Still, he couldn't help but feel as though he'd gotten what he deserved.

The half-elf contemplated leaping in to action to assist them, but decided against it as their assailants encircled them, spears and bows aimed to kill, and any move that he made had the potential to cause his allies' deaths. Instead, he hurriedly fled back towards the rest of the group, intent on warning them of the ambush, but as he reached them realised that they, too, were in the midst of an ambush.

Niv cursed under his breath.

The opening barrage was textbook, performed with precision. Goliath watched from his perch, with no small amount of satisfaction, as the arrows scattered the smattering of races into various forms of cover. His teeth bared, splitting the fur of his muzzle as the yellow-tinged teeth peeked out from the silver hair, his hand twitching with desire to compete in the battle.

His gaze turned to his warriors, picking out twelve from the two-dozen he had assembled behind him. "Strike swift, strike true," he said, simply. "Show them our might, and they'll have to surrender."

The amount of words that came forth from the Mira Shief were small in number, yet poignant in power. Those assembled knew what their roles were; generations of surviving in a harsh and brutal landscape had honed their hunting and fighting skills to a fine, tipped point. They needed no direction; when their leader stalked forward, feline body crouched low to the earth as the arrows continued flying, arcing towards targets that were scattered, confused.

The advancing twelve were low to the ground, slinking rather than running, chewing up the distance between them and their targets swiftly. The forest, as it always had, sheltered them from sight, camoflauging them from their prey until the absolute last minute.

The last minute...

With blades drawn and teeth bared, the Mira fell upon their foes. Goliath himself drew his own weapon; an ancestral battleaxe, passed from Chief to Chief as a sign of both strength and wisdom. Waisting little time, the feline charged, the axe low, and swept in an upward arc towards a large elf, wielding a greatsword.

Blood would run today, if the Chief had his way.

With a great clang, sword and axe met in a shower of sparks and exertion, both combatants straining against the other, eyes locked. With a push, the feline shoved Rynhart, seperating the two by a foot as the warrior chief dropped into a crouch.

"You're on our land."

Though dominating in height, Rynhart's form didn't match the physical fortitude of Goliath's, and it wasn't long before the heavy axe had him on the defensive only just barely keeping his greatsword in line to deflect the powerful blows. With another clash of steel, thick tendrils of purplish black magic crept along his sword and across Goliath's axe, but as they neared Goliath's hands, they couldn't seem to find purchase and swiftly evaporated into the air.

As the purplish hue evaporated, there was an umistakable smirk on the beastman's face as he ground his weapon into the human's, taking a step forwards and keeping the large foe out of the battle. Amidst the struggle, Rynhart tried to cast an eye about for Parlina, but in all the chaos, he couldn't locate her without leaving himself open to attack.

To their left, two of the hunters leapt towards a human in plain garb, a longsword in his grip. One of the hunters attacked high, aiming to run Arrow through with a shortsword that was sharpened and glinting. The other swept low, aiming to knock Arrow's feet from under him with a staff.

Though baffled by the disregard the charging creatures paid his protective barrier, Arrow had little time to ponder the ramifications of this development, and dropped the shield to focus on the fight that had now been brought to him. He swung his heater shield up to forcefully slam the sword of the first hunter aside, before his blade lit up and with a flash, jumped downwards at inhuman speeds to intercept the staff swing. When the blade met the staff it pulsed with a blast of force energy that took the momentum out of the swing, allowing Arrow to catch the staff at its midsection with the blade rather than simply have his arm knocked aside.

Utilising the momentary opening, Arrow swiftly brought his sword up in an arc aimed to slash across the throat of the staff-wielder before he could retreat from the heavy blow.

Yet three more of the beastmen were met by the burly form of Brent, greatsword smoothly cutting through the haft of a spear - however, the beastmen were swift and coordinated. The remaining two suitably pushing Brent onto the defensive as he shifted his sword to block a sword blow before slapping another spear aside with the flat of his blade. The unarmed of the three beastment jerked a stone dagger free of its sheath and darted in, leaving a ragged blood line across Brent's bicep. With a grunt of pain, it was nearly enough for him to drop his sword as the heavy blade dipped lower to the ground, but another overhead slash from one of his opponents had him gritting his teeth through the wound. Raising his greatsword overhead he only just intercepted the attack from cleaving his skull.

The trio of beasts that converged on the intimidating form of Shana as she moved forwards were met with a veritable snarl of defiance as the mercenary captain swept her curved blades free of their sheathes. The first - slightly too eager - reached her a fraction of a second before his two companions were within range to support him, and found himself meeting a plated boot in the stomach, taking the wind from his attempted axe-blow and flooring him. Fortunately for him, Shana was quickly forced to deal with the other pair, deftly parrying a sword blow with her own blade and nimbly retreating back a step to avoid the sweep of a polearm.

As the cat-like attackers charged from the brush, Emma's attention immediately went to stopping their attack. She planted her staff in the ground, and with a rippling of the air, a bright white orb appeared in the air just before the approaching enemies. The conjured singularity would draw the creatures into it with immensely strong gravitic energy, loose foliage and rocks already shooting from the ground to spiral and slam against one another around it.

That was the intention, anyway. As the beasts soundly ignored the spell, charging past it, Emma was taken entirely aback. The spell was clearly working, by the debris that it had picked up, but the beastmen seemed unphased. Perhaps they were forced to grip their weaponry tighter, maybe one even lost their blade, but they themselves powered straight past. Whatever they were, they seemed apparently immune to being pulled off their feet.

Having thought Emma to have the approaching melee attackers covered, the two other ranged casters of the group, Talos and Erina, had already loosed their spells into the trees where the arrows had rained from. A shower of arcane energy peppered the cover like a barrage of arrows, directed by the young elf girl, whilst Talos sought to shatter the earth beneath the feet of the hidden attackers, dashing a line of terrain to smithereans with a sweep of his arm and bringing one of the smaller nearby trees crashing to the ground.

It was difficult to ascertain the success or failure of the barrage, as the beastmen scattered into the brush and trees. The archers were quickly lost from sight only to re-appear at various points along the forest, bows drawn and arrows notched. One such beastman drew a bead on one of the three mages located near the back of the skirmish, and after only a moments deliberation, released the arrow with an audible twang.

With a gasp, Erina felt the sting of an arrow impacting her side and punching deep into her body. The elf let out a strangled cry for aid before collapsing, her lung punctured.

Emma swung around angrily as Erina fell, barking loudly to Talos, "Keep her alive, and get us some cover from these bastards! They won't fire into the melee but we're sitting ducks back here!"

The robed man responded quickly, dropping down to one knee beside Erina and bringing his arms up to form a wall of light between them and the archers' new position. "I can't keep us covered from all sides, Emma, we need to do something about them."

Goliath surveyed the chaos of the battle in the seconds that he and the warrior were locked, keeping his focus on his comrades. Spotting Emma bark orders, he narrowed his eyes and shoved himself backwards, using Rynhart's blade as a springing board. Once a safe distance away, he raised an arm and made a slashing motion towards the raven-haired mage, indicating his intent.

As one, two of the dozen archers hanging back dropped their bows and drew swords, both showing signs of rust. They traveled quickly through the trees, skirting the edge of the battle before leaping on a collision course with the percieved leader.

While they moved, Goliath moved back towards his foe, advancing slowly and carefully. With a sudden burst of speed, he feinted right and struck left with an obviously skilled maneuver.

Emma picked up on the charge of the once-archers just as they neared the clearing, and launched herself into action. Noting the two attackers, she sprinted forwards directly at one of the beastmen as they leaped, bringing her staff up in a violent stab aimed to plunge the bladed end straight into the creature's chest, using his own momentum to power the strike further.

The sprint had also allowed her to evade the second attacker's pounce, and so mercilessly ripping her weapon from the repelled corpse of the first creature, Emma rounded to slam the metal haft down on the back of his neck a few moments after he landed.

The creature was no incompetent fool, however, and as soon as his leap-strike had missed his blade was brought up to catch the over-head strike. The momentum of the attack forced the creature to the floor, but he was saved from incapacitation.

As the fight got underway, the beastmen were pushing their opponents back, forcing them into a defensive cluster while they utilized numbers to surround them. Though, that's not to say that the fight was won or lost yet. No, the Aelorans and their companions were resilient and on the ground lay three beastmen, two dead and one wounded. Their fallen comrades and the loss of surprise was enough to make the felinoids wary and calculated in their approach. Feigns and brief clashes broke out along the defensive line as the beastmen tested them for weak points.

However, from the tree lines there was further movement, the archers were beginning to step out, followed by another group of skirmishers and two figures being walked out at spear point. Dorian and Ruan. At the forefront stood Goliath's brother, a dominating figure with broad shoulders and striped fur.

“Enough!” Gremroth barked loudly.

Emma stood poised over her fallen foe, ready to deliver the killing blow, when Gremroth's shout drew her attention and she froze. Void take it, she mentally cursed, One dead, one dying and now they have hostages. This isn't our day.

"Hold!" Emma yelled, "Disengage! Lower your weapons."

The blood mage looked up to meet Ruan's eyes almost apologetically, before grimacing as she had a chance to take in the full reality of the battle's casualties. Lianna was dead, and Erina weakened -- though Talos had saved her from immediate threat of death, she had clearly lost a lot of blood.

"What do you want, beastman, why attack us?" she called out, scowling, "We held no ire towards the inhabitants of this forest. Who can afford to waste lives and resources on slaughtering travellers when a voidling attack is always a threat?"

Goliath lowered his axe as his opponent did, stepping away with from the man to turn his gaze upon the speaking woman. "Held no ire, and yet Groth is dead, and you bring a warband into our lands. What would you have us do, march upon our villages and burn them?"

He quietly looked towards the corpses of his comrades, before twirling his axe expertly. "Be grateful you are not all dead this day, mage." He turned to the remaining Mira, jerking his head towards the intruders.

"Relieve them of their weapons. If they prove unco-operative, shoot them."

Emma narrowed her eyes, "Surrender your weapons." she said simply, biting back further words on retrieving them to avoid upsetting the ceasefire. "And I have no knowledge of this 'Groth', we have encountered none of your kind in this forest until now. And as another note, you might want to consider putting signs up if you're going to kill anyone who happens to wander into your stretch of the woods. You can't fault us for bringing a warband into your lands when there's nothing to indicate they're yours."

Arrow cast Emma a wary glance as he reluctantly lowered his arms, still facing off against his til-then attacker. The death of the beastman at his feet clearly hadn't made his companion happy. Deciding to keep his ability to call his weapons to him secret, the soldier handed his sword and shield to the snarling creature. His dissatisfaction with the surrender was clear.

The beastman's eyes went to the sword at Arrow's waist, then, its yellow glow keeping it easily noticable, and he tensed. "Emma, the artefacts..." he murmured lowly, "We can't just hand them over."

"They'll do no good to us dead," Emma muttered, "We don't have much choice." And I have no intention of leaving them there.

As the Aelorans and the scattering of Patronus reluctantly relinquished their weapons, the beastmen swiftly went about collecting them while keeping their own at ready. Nearby, one beastman in particular had knelt down before a fallen form situated away from the main group. “Shief. This one's alive.” As he spoke, his hand had already gone to his dagger at his belt, ready to silence the girls strangled breaths if his Shief so instructed.

The situation drew Rynhart's attention as he recognized the form to be that of Parlina's, downed so swiftly and silently by an arrow as to have gone unnoticed in the larger chaos of battle. However, unarmed and at spear point, there was little he or his allies could do for their fallen comrades now. However, the rise in tension from the group was an almost tangible thing, and Goliath's next words would likely spell the outcome of this engagement.

Goliath approached the downed form, still speaking to Emma as he walked. "You do not know of the nature of these lands, if you think your solutions are feasible, mage."

"You think?" Emma raised an eyebrow, "The outsiders from halfway across the world don't know the nature of your lands? Whoever would have thought it..."

He knelt by the downed combatant, tilting his head as he beheld her shallow breathing. He paused, pressing a furred palm to her shoulder with surprising gentleness.

"We cannot afford to mend her," he said, simply. The warrior nodded, and another converged, standing over the form. Goliath turned back towards Emma, rising to his full height and taking a few steps towards her.

"I leave the wounded in your care. The only kindness I can provide is one that I'm sure you would not appreciate." Finally, he turned towards his comrades.

"March them out. Haste is necessary; who knows what the battle draws out of the shadows."

Emma didn't flinch away from Goliath's imposing form, meeting his eyes with her own steely gaze and without hesitation giving out her own orders, captives or nay. "Someone aid Parlina to get her to wherever we're going." she instructed without taking her eyes off of the beastman leader, "Talos, take Erina, do what you can for her en route."

The blood mage's eyes scanned the rest of the group, "Ruan, do what you can for Dorian's injury, walking on that won't help anything."

She paused. Had Niv still not returned? Bloody coward, he'd probably fallen into a grove of strangleweed in his haste to abandon them. And good riddance.

"The rest of you, let's move out," Emma said, ignoring entirely the fact that Goliath had already given said order. "We don't want to keep our gracious," here the mage practically spat the word, "hosts waiting."

The wayward group of Aeloran and Patronus travelers had been walking for near an hour since their unfortunate encounter with the beastmen that now escorted them through the forest of the fall. Even Ruan, a veteran scout couldn't help but be impressed with the sheer ease at which the felinoids moved through the terrain. Silent as wraiths and agile as their feline counterparts, they seemed to know every rock and root, every pitfall and sand trap. Even with their wounded, they were making near double the time it would have taken him and Dorian to lead their allies safely through these lands.

Emma, in the meantime, was far to busy with making absolutely certain she stayed a few steps ahead of her disgruntled escort. This had the result of completely ruining the image of the 'leading', and at least made her feel a little better about being a captive. It also meant that she was near the head of the group, where Ruan and Dorian walked.

"So these people are good, huh?" she spoke up, glancing at the pair, "Or else I suppose they wouldn't have been able to evade our notice till there were a volley of arrows in us. Busy getting to know the new guy, Ruan?" It was somewhat obvious that the blood mage was only teasing, but doubtless the inference would still sting the veteran scout's pride. At least, Emma suspected it would. And what was an armed escort into unknown territory without a little banter? Ruan's only reply was a light grunt.

Dorian gave Emma a sidelong glance, "I'll take the blame for this, if that's what you're looking for. I'm used to the threats in this forest being relatively loud. I wasn't aware we'd wandered into hostile territory, and may have been taking the scouting ahead less seriously than I should have."

Used to working largely alone, Dorian didn't have the discipline of the Aelorans when it came to travelling.

Dorian's words and explanation did little to ease Ruan's thoughts. It was his job to know these things, peoples lives depended on knowing them. Dorian's flippant demeanor didn't absolve Ruan from not having spotted the danger.

"I imagine being talked at is hardly condusive to danger awareness," Dorian added, giving Ruan an apologetic grimace. Working alone also meant that he seldom had the problem of distractions to work with.

“So what do you two know about these people?” Ruan asked. Second guessing ones actions was rarely productive, and Ruan quickly shifted his focus to the matter at hand.

Emma gave the nearest beastman a glare, "So far? That they really don't like people on their land. I could strike a guess at them really just not liking people. Nobody's seen a beastman since the early days of the fall. Looks like these ones have developed some sort of magic immunity."

“It seems that there's no shortage of surprises on this expedition. Who would have thought anything could have survived out here for so long," Ruan remarked.

"We've encountered them before," Dorian interjected, "Not frequently, and never peacefully. It's never been established where they lived - I suppose we just established it, though. Bright side, eh? If we ever get back to report it."

The hunter shrugged at Ruan's comment, "I get the feeling we get a lot less void-creatures in the forest than you deal with out in the open. The wildlife that's survived here is just as much of a threat to them as to us. Something has kept our relatively small settlements from being overrun, at least. Aside from small attacks? We don't usually have a lot of problems."

Meanwhile, while the trio of Aelorans conversed amongst themselves, up ahead, Rynhart walked beside a crudely constructed stretcher that supported the unconscious form of Parlina. During a brief rest earlier, Arrow had seen to her injury as well as was doable under the circumstances, but the young druid had yet to wake. The soldier had assured him that though slow, the magical healing he had administered would continue its work over time. Her condition was still critical, but only time would tell if she would pull through.

It was a strange thing to him, to be concerned for the welfare of the human child. He had long humored his sister's compassion for mortals, but never before had he shared it. Part of him wondered if Rhea leaving him amongst these people had been some clever ploy of hers all along. The thought brought a wry smile to his lips. Where was she now, he wondered to himself. It was not uncommon for them to part ways, sometimes for years on end, but always there was an underlying longing to be reunited, an instinctive need to seek one another out. This yearning was all the stronger under such strenuous circumstances, in such a remote and foreign place. His expression grew distant and forlorn as they walked, lost in thought.

"Ryn..." Parlina gasped, startled enough at the pain it took to breathe to stop speaking. She shifted a hand towards the edge of the makeshift stretcher, hoping that the movement would get his attention. There was no smile in her eyes or on her lips; she looked exhausted, skin paled because of the stress upon her body.

Rynhart glanced over at the sound of Parlina's voice, his eyes studying her carefully. “Don't talk. The arrow struck your lung. Just rest.”

Parlina acknowledged the suggestion not to speak with a slight nod. Trying to take slow, deep breaths rather than quick ones that aggravated the wound was proving successful. She tried to look from side to side, confusion plain as her attention refocused upon Rynhart.

As the group's journey took them further into the woods, their surroundings became more and more indistinguishable.

Suddenly, as if appearing from nowhere, they were standing at the edge of a village, so camoflaged in the natural light that it would be nearly impossible to spot from a distance. The structures were all crafted in earth tones; mud bricks making up the walls of the huts, with thatched roofs and timber mixed into the materials of construction. Some of the huts were built in trees, the builders making up for lack of clear space using the trees to their advantage instead of fighting against them.

The village was set up in a strategic way; huts created on tree limbs providing natural lookout points across the forest, with sturdier huts placed on the forest floor that served as storing houses for food, more resistant to the elements, and more houses that seemed suited for living conditions. The entire village was made up of no more than forty houses alltogether.

Off to a corner of the forest there was a large clearing, where a circle was cleared out, surrounded by a wooden fence that was chest-high on a Mira male. Inside the circle were four pairs of the felines, throwing out precise grappling maneuvers and tackles. Walking between them was a fully grown beastman, a grin evident on his cat-like features. Laughter and shouts of excitement came from the pit as the children played, their training clearly enjoyable.

Throughout the village there were bustling females, herding young ones to and fro with food and mild scolding. To one side, three Mira males bantered good-naturedly, patching a thatched roof with large sheafs of straw and grass, while a Mira of the opposite sex sat near their feet, weaving more for them to position and maneuver. All around the group there was conversation in a variety of voices; pleasantries and scolding, barking laughter and good-natured banter.

All of those sounds; the scolding, laughing, rough-housing... all ceased when the group of strangers arrived into their midst.

Every gaze; young, old, and in-between were trained upon the collection of oddly shaped people, the glances ranging from curious to mistrusting. The silence lasted for a few long seconds, the awe in the air increasing the longer the moments dragged on.

Then, as soon as the curiosity was satisfied, the village went back to work. Though their pace was much quicker, as if they expected to be interrupted at any moment. The banter was strained; the sparring was more calculated, the laughter was hushed.

Goliath was grim as he stood in his camp, watching as two dozen more warriors approached the group, weapons picked up in the place of other activities. Goliath lifted a heavy palm, resting it on Myst's shoulder. Leaning closer to his son, he breathed a command.

"Go fetch Leonis and your mother, bring them to the meeting house. Fast, now."

He turned his gaze towards the prisoners, stalking behind his guards, saying nothing as the Mira drew bows and weapons, keeping them centered on the prisoners. As he moved, his countenance hardened, his gaze moving from face to face before resting upon the wounded woman.

With a slight grimace at himself, he turned on his heel and stalked towards the meeting house, Gremroth at his side.

With his father's hand on his shoulder, and his blood still racing from the heat of battle, Myst gave a brief nod before racing off. The encampment was very familiar to the young son of the Shief, and he knew his way around it faster than most of the others. Though only perhaps by the merest of margins.

Myst's speed didn't prevent him from noticing the few brief nods of recognition from the bystanders. Another sign of him being the Shief's son. Probably something that wouldn't even happen, considering he had only just completed his trial, if he had but been a normal cub. Living in another's shadow, probably the most trying of ordeals, one might've said. A endless source of annoyance for Myst. He wanted to earn the respect, rather than have it due to his own birth.

His thoughts hardly slowed him as he headed for the youngsters housing. There would be the first place to look for Leonis. Slowing quickly as he reached it, he poked his head in, looking swiftly around to attempt to locate the elder.

The grizzled veteran of a warrior was seated upon a chair with a small child in his lap and several more situated upon the floor before him. He had a softness to his eyes and a patience to his tone that belied his hardened and scarred visage.

“And as he drew his final breath he gave life to us all, for it was his sacrifice that brought Le'thorian to us. And so goes the tale of Barath, Shief of Shief's.”

However, as he took note of Myst in the doorway, returned from the hunting party, Leonis rose from his seat and set the child down amongst the rest.

“Elder Leonis, tell us the one about Le'thorian next,” one of the children called out as she clambered to her feet.

Chuckling lowly, Leonis ushered the children out of the abode. “Later. Go on and play now.”

There was some generalized moaning and groaning from the group, but before long Leonis and Myst were alone. “Myst, my boy. You don't visit nearly often enough these days. I presume the Shief wishes to speak with me?” Leonis asked. After all, Myst was a bit old for children's stories. “How fared the hunting party?”

"Perceptive as always, elder." Myst replied, focusing on keeping his tone respectful. "Groth was killed, aparantly, by a group of mages. We were successful in catching them." Not that Myst would've been worried with killing them. Heck, he'd've liked to. The arrogant one especially. "Albiet losing two of the hunters." Especially after that.

Leonis grunted gruffly at the news of two fallen. “Well, no time to delay. Lead the way.”

Affirming in stance and reaction, Myst turned around, leading the way off to Fiera's place. It'd almost been lighthearted when he'd been there earlier. Successfully completing the trials, things had seemed okay... Now, two deaths, and Groth being gone darkened the mood a lot. Approaching the hut, the young son of the Shief noted the two guards, or two Mira standing guard, outside, and approached, less hurried, with the elder in tow.

The guards exchanged glances before one spoke up. “I'm sorry, but the Shamana has given explicit instructions to not be disturbed.”

Frowning just slightly, Myst considered. He couldn't exactly go against the wishes of the Shamana like that, not minding the parental relation. But he'd been tasked by the Shief to get her...

He'd just have to tell his father that the Shamana had explicitely said she could not be disturbed. Turning, after having come to a decision, Myst began back to the meeting place. "Then we will not disturb her. When she is finished, can you tell her that the Shief would like to speak with her?"

After the guard nodded in confirmation, Myst allowed himself a brief moment to make sure that everything was done before bounding off towards the Meeting Hall. He loved the feeling of the wind ruffling his fur as he bounded along, even if it was towards a meeting, and especially when towards a battle....

The structure that served as the Mira's center of command was considerably larger than the huts that housed the felines on the ground, standing tall and imposing in the middle of the Camp, surrounded by a smattering of thick, dark trees. The interior was decorated only by a round table, carved thick and sturdy and lacking any kind of ornate decoration. A single chair also sat by the table; it's purpose for seating the elder of the meetings, though it went largely unused - the pride of the elder Mira making it difficult for them to take a seat offered, most believing it to be a sign of weakness.

Standing at the table, Goliath spread his fur-lined hands across the roughened wood, fingers spreading to fully absorb the craftsmanship. The table was an old thing; speculated to be the oldest piece of furniture that the Mira posessed. It had survived countless raids by voidlings, and had always been here when the Mira returned.

Ageless. Tough. Proud.

Much like the Mira themselves.

Running a furred thumb over the table, Goliath turned back towards Gremroth, his eyes translucent, troubled.

"Have the mates of Rhackshir and Shalgorn been informed?"

“Friska was sent to find them,” Gremroth replied somberly. With the Mira so few in number, each and every loss weighted heavily on them all. But it was also an accepted part of their heritage. Few Mira lived past their thirties. “Both had successfully produced children before their passing. Hroth will be old enough to take his father's place in another season, and Gresha gave birth to a daughter two nights past.”

"Good. All is not well, but it is better." He sighed, running a hand through his short mane, finishing the movement with his palm cupping an ear. In the dim, natural light, his white fur glittered, like a smattering of tiny crystals imbedded in his flesh.

"What do you make of the grouping, currently witheld in the store house?"

At this time, Myst finally arrived at the Meeting Hut, Leonis in tow. Upon entering, the young Mira acknowledge the Shief and his brother. "Father. I've brought Leonis. Mother asked to be undisturbed, though I've left instructions to inform her once she finishes with the spirits."

Goliath whirled at his son's entrance, giving Myst a curt nod before turning to the elder. "Elder Leonis. Thank you for coming on such short instance. I would seek your counsel."

Leonis stepped forward as he was addressed and bowed his head humbly. “Of course,” the wizened Mira replied. “From what Myst tells me, this is a deeply troubling matter.”

"It is," Goliath said, not one to mince words. The sounds fell awkwardly, however. He'd never felt comfortable around the elder who'd served with his father, always wondering if he'd say the wrong thing. "The group had slain groth; magic users, mostly. Though a few warriors were among their midst. I currently have them detained in one of our storage facilities."

Goliath folded his arms. "I seek counsel as to how to proceed. In your long and wise life with this tribe, has anything like this ever occured?"

“In the time of your father, we have encountered outsiders in the southern reaches of the forest. But not for many seasons now,” Leonis replied. “They hail from the mountains, refugees from an age long past. The news of Groth is very unfortunate... and very troubling. Groth has existed since the days of old, the days before the fall. He was the last of his kind – older even than the fae.” Leonis's words held a weight of sadness to them. “This crime should not go unpunished.”

Myst stood awkwardly to the side. His pressence seemed a little superfluous, as he had little of age or wisdom to contribute to the discussion. His preferred reaction to the outsiders actions was already known to his father, and it would do no good to add another voice to the conversation.

"I am in agreement." Goliath said, his gaze moving from the elder towards his son. Raising an eyebrow, he directed a statement towards him. "Myst, you fought well today." He said, as if it were not a surprise but a recap of everything the son of the chief should be. "What do you think of the outsiders? What must be done?"

Myst was surprised out of his watchful reverie by the questions directed at him. His father had probably noticed his uncomfort here. Another test, no doubt. "The Outsiders are nothing but trouble, to my mind. They killed Groth, and bring little possibility of amiability. I would personally be inclined towards executing them for their violations."

Leonis nodded gravely in response to Myst's assessment. “There is also another matter of concern here than just the outsiders we speak of. For generations Groth has defended our borders from the void beasts that dwell beyond – with him no more, it is only a matter of time before our lands fall to void and shadow.”

"We'll persevere. We always do. But the void creatures descent upon this place may be sooner rather than later." Goliath muttered, beginning to pace restlessly. He turned to Gremroth, raising an eyebrow.

"Perhaps it is paranoia, but I'd prefer our borders be scouted beyond the normal holdings. If only to appease my own mind. We'll need more guards on the outsiders, too. Who knows what tricks they're capable of."

“It will be done. I'll double the watch tonight and lead another scouting party out to ensure that we weren't followed as well,” Gremroth replied. However, as he disengaged from the conversation and made for the doorway, warning cries went up and began sounding all through the village.

Bursting from the door of the home, Goliath, with a glance, surmised the situation, righted the strategy in his head. With a growl, he whirled to Gremroth. "We're moving out."

No further words were needed as Gremroth took off at a run, a signal whistle going up through the ranks of Mira scattered through the village.

Snapping his head to face forwards once more, his eyes sought his own abode, noticing his mate already stepping from the entrance. Cupping a furry palm to his mouth, he hollered towards her.

"Fiera! We're leaving! The Southern Glade!" He roared. Not waiting to see if the Shamana was in motion, he turned towards his remaining two companions.

"Leonis. Assist Fiera. We'll speak on this matter more at the Glade."

Finally, his gaze was on his son. Stepping close to him, he narrowed his eyes down at the Shief-to-be. He'd grown into a warrior; a fine young man who any father would be proud to hold up.

If only he could tell him.

"We will be among the hunters drawing the spawn away from the retreat." He said, drawing his weapon. "Come."

Nodding once, Myst pulled the short blades from where they were strapped in, holding them in readiness of the conflict that would soon ensue. "Right behind you, Father." The blood in him sang that song once again. That song of anticipation of the battle ahead. That tenseness, that irresistable urge to fight. The heritige of his people.

"Well, this is certainly homely." Emma said, breaking the thick silence that had hung over the group. The blood mage leaned against the wall of the drab hut that they had been confined in, arms folded and expression far from cheerful. The building was cramped, designed for far fewer people than were present in it, but on the positive side, everyone had at least a few feet to themselves. "I can't help but feel it would be easier to just keep us in a circle of angry cat-people - I think we all know that the walls of this thing are really just a formality, considering who they're keeping in it."

From his position crouched a short way into the hut, Arrow sighed, "Whilst there is something to be said for keeping a positive demeanour in a situation like this, perhaps we ought to be discussing our situation more seriously than making jokes about it."

The soldier glanced around the group, "We've already suffered more losses than any of us anticipated and we haven't even been out of Amarathia a day. There are better times and places for humour."

Talos gave Arrow a sidelong glance from where he stood, "Your words fall on deaf ears, friend." he said, "There is little that Emma cannot find humorous."

Emma sighed, "Well excuse me for breaking the ice! If you can't tell by my brooding expression and posture, I'm not exactly ecstatic myself."

A short cough came from the side of the hut where Dorian sat, "If I might offer an outsider's input, we're not really getting much done are we? Maybe we could try and tone down the group dynamic just a little, and talk a little logic."

"A man after my own heart," Shana muttered, "Sometimes I wonder at the fact that my old band of bloodthirsty mercenaries had less arguments than this group."

“They're right, this bantering has never gotten us anywhere but in more trouble,” Ruan seconded. “First Sarah, and then the ambush on the plains of Amarathia. Have we not learned our lessons yet?”

“Arrow,” Rynhart interjected into the conversation. Along the side wall and still resting upon crude stretchers were the wounded. Erina was resting soundly but Parlina's skin had turned an unsettling ashen color and she was slick with sweat. She had awoken, though it was hard to say how aware she was behind her wide-eyed expression and her labored breathing.

Disengaging from the conversation, Arrow rose and walked over to where Ryhart stood, "I can hopefully do better now that we aren't having spears pressed at our backs," he murmured, kneeling beside the girl and resuming the healing process.

Meanwhile, Emma clicked her tongue and nodded. "Okay then, let's review things. We're locked in a mud hut, which in itself poses no problems. The main problem lies in the fact that we're in the middle of a settlement full of warriors who are immune to our various forms of magic. They ambushed us before, which gave them the advantage - but even without that advantage, they're not only on their home territory but now greatly outnumber us."

The blood mage tapped her hand against the wall, "So we've established we can't fight them. Even if we escaped, we'd take casualties and they'd be able to chase us down easily given the speed at which they can travel through this forest."

"Not to mention the wounded can't travel right now," Ruan interjected.

Emma nodded dismissively as though this were a minor afterthought, before continuing, "Our second problem is the fact that they have all of our weapons," glancing at Arrow, she added, "including the supposed artefacts. They are obviously a priority, but we aren't going to be able to get those without conflict."

Folding her arms, Emma shook her head, "I don't think we have any other options but to wait this out and find out what they want with us. We at least know they don't want us all dead, or they wouldn't have bothered with taking us captive."

"Or, of course, they just wanted to force us to surrender so they could ritually execute us without taking casualties," Dorian piped in, "Just to throw that out there. It's apparently a 'thing' for tribes to do that, if we're to believe the stories."

"How cheerf-" Emma paused, letting her imminent words sink in, "Nevermind. Nice try, hypocrisy, but not this time."

Talos folded his arms, "We should prepare for the worst. If necessary, we'll need to fight for our lives."

Frowning, Dorian interjected, "Surely we'd be better off trying to escape. If we scatter, a lone escapee is more likely to cover ground, and if they give chase they won't be able to pursue us all."

"So we just leave the unlucky ones to die?" Erina, announcing her rousing only then, spoke up. "I can't see me or the druidess escaping a pack of stalking beastmen under the best of conditions right now."

Emma shook her head, "She's right. If they turn on us, we fight. Magic immune or not, in a more open area like this village, they don't have as strong an advantage as they did in the ambush."

Brent grunted his grudging agreement with Emma as he spoke up. “No one's being left behind. We've survived this long by watching out for one other, not by turning tail and leaving our comrades for dead. Excluding that coward of a mutt, Niv.”

"So that's settled then," Emma said, sighing, "Now let's just hope they're a little more reasonable than the type of tribesmen who would want to cook us because hell, I'm sure we taste better than voidling."

"Speaking of voidlings, even if we get free of here... It's almost as if they have been dogging our heels since we left Amarathia. How is it they always seem to be one step ahead of us?" Ruan inquired.

Emma nodded ponderously, "Even on the plains, they knew we were travelling. The swarm made a beeline for us almost as soon as we were in the open, and those void wyrms don't just appear on a chance they might catch someone. They knew we were there."

"Did anyone think to check the skies? Perhaps we were unknowingly being observed by one of the Eyes." Erina suggested.

Ruan shook his head. “They couldn't have known which direction we would leave the city, and even the Eyes can't scout by night.”

Consciousness brought renewed pain to the druid, her breaths short and sharp. Every breath pulled at her chest uncomfortably and Parlina felt cold; ever so cold. It was difficult to find the strength to turn her head, so she quickly abandoned that venture for the time being. It had been years since she had felt this unwell but awareness at the pain stole any chance of recollection on how the wound had been achieved. For now, there were only the remnants of agony that she remembered feeling the last time she had awoke.

And now she was here, struggling to calm herself, and staring wide-eyed at the ceiling of a hut that she had never seen before. Voices, and more importantly, voices were the muted chattering of the spirits. Parlina tried to turn and gasped, trying and failing to raise a hand to her chest. Every shift of her body only brought more difficulty but with the moments that passed she found that the pain was ebbing away. Breathing became laboured rather than painful, and her blurred vision cleared to reveal the cause.

Parlina blinked once before tiredly attempting a smile up at Arrow. "Hello?" It was a question, but not directed at the warrior. There was a sharpness in Parlina's chest as she spoke, but talking thankfully did not result in agony any more.

"Hey," Arrow replied, "Don't try to move too quickly, your wounds will still be tender." The soldier forced a smile, though it was far from convincing.

"I really wasn't thinking about moving anywhere," Parlina reassured him, worried eyes shifting from him momentarily to glance around the little hut. Her smile started to wane as she took in their surroundings, replaced with a confused frown. "Where are we?"

"Do you remember the ambush?" Arrow asked, "We were taken captive. It is fortunate that there were not more casualties. The beastmen are resistant to our magic. They have the Sword, and the Javelin." At this the soldier's expression turned grim, losing the facade of good-spirits.

Parlina nodded once at the question; she remembered blinding pain and not much else, but she trusted Arrow's explanation wholeheartedly. The comment about their captors' resistance to magic mattered little to the druid as she finally realised, with the help of Arrow's words that the Javelin was gone.

She sat up too quickly at that, crying out in surprised pain. "But..." The difficulty brought on by the sudden movement made it difficult to stay upright, let alone continue speaking. Her arms were shaking as palms pressed down against the stretcher, holding Parlina as steady as was possible. They couldn't have taken the Javelin; she had made a promise to Kento that she'd keep it safe!

The fact that Parlina still had her own artefact was apparently moot as she looked around the hut fretfully, vainly trying to find the Javelin in spite of Arrow's words.

“It's safe, nearby,” Rynhart intuitively interjected to ease the distressed druid's concerns. “They were putting our things in the nearby building. Just rest for now and gather your strength.”

"We'll get them back." Arrow spoke with a conviction that belied their current circumstances, "Sylvire placed the weight of a world on our shoulders, and I have no intention of letting that drop." Whether or not a diplomatic solution could be found, Arrow would retrieve the artefacts. There was no two ways about it to his mind - leave with the artefacts, or don't leave at all.

While Parlina was coming around, across the hut stood the frail figure of Whisper, her arms held close as if she were cold. She kept her head down and her brow furrowed in thought, but she never spoke up. The girl's introverted state had not improved since their departure from Amarathia, and if anything she seemed to have only grown more distant. As she stood there uncomfortable at the cramped arrangements and close proximity to the others, her fingers trailed along the mark on her arm, almost absentmindely.

"Are you quite alright there?" The overly-irritable voice of Erina broke the silence in the room once again, as the fidgeting of the pale girl near to where she had been resting began to stretch her patience - thin to begin with, but only worsened by the tension in the air. "You haven't spoken a word since we set off, and come to think of it, before then either. Do I even know your name?"

"Erina..." Talos murmured, "Now is not the time."

It took Whisper a moment to realize Erina was speaking to her before she looked over. Taking a moment, she offered only a single word in response. “Whisper.” The girl seemed anxious at their situation, restless and fidgety. “I'm Whisper,” she added with a bit more clarity. Her eyes darted to Arrow and then to the others. “Arrow...” she began, but it almost seemed as if speaking up for the first time had drawn every eye in the room onto her. Finally she just turned her arm over, leaving the mark barred. The skin around it was reddened from her digging at it.

Arrow looked up at his name, having been seated in silence since Parlina recovered, "Whisper?" he inquired, getting the feeling that something unfortunate was about to be mentioned. There was that kind of grim anticipation in the air.

“I think... it's,” she paused unsure how to word her situation without turning herself into a scapegoat for their misfortunes. “I can hear them sometimes, when they're near.”

“What is she talking about?” Brent asked gruffly.

"Yes, do enlighten us," Emma said, raising her eyebrows, "I was certain I'd been reassured that you'd fixed any crazy, but hearing voices isn't making me confident."

Arrow shot Emma a glare, but said nothing in response. "Hear who?" he asked simply.

“Them. The voidlings. Just whispers really, it's hard to make out or understand. Feelings mostly,” Whisper tried to explain. The mindless swarms weren't articulate like some of the Orsa members they had encountered in the past, but they shared an origin. It would certainly explain how they could be directed. There really was no graceful way to say what hung on her tongue next. “I think it's how they're finding us,” Whisper said finally.

There was a long pause whilst the Aelorans as a group ran words over in their minds that weren't quite violent accusations. Most of them, anyway.

"Excuse me?" The gruff voice of Shana was the first to break the silence, "You mean to say that you've been aware of this, and you choose now to tell us? After we've lost lives?"

“No... I mean, I wasn't sure.” Whisper's protests were awkward and her eyes shot to Arrow again.

"You weren't sure?" Shana didn't pause to allow any interjection, launching straight back into what seemed set to be quite the tirade. "By the Light, if you even suspected anything of the sort why didn't you tell someone, anyone? Let me see that mar--"

“When exactly do you propose she have done that? It's not as if we have had a moments break since we set foot outside Amarathia. Give the girl a moment to explain herself,” Brent forcefully interjected with a grunt.

Arrow nodded in appreciation at Brent's interruption, "And what would have changed in your reaction then, before you knew our loyalties so well, and we had fought together? Likely you would have pronounced her a traitor there and then, but I can assure you she is not."

"Though," Emma spoke up, "Now that you mention it, has she actually fought so far?"

"The ogre creature made a beeline straight for her, too," Ruan noted. "We had a dozen men and women out there, and it disregarded every one of them."

"Can we say for sure what that means, though?" Dorian asked, "We don't even know what that thing was - if it was a void-creature, why would it attack its homing beacon?"

"Because," Parlina stopped to cough, hand raised in a ball. "Because it wasn't a void creature."

Parlina's voice was weak, strained through exhaustion and grief upon realising what might have happened. "Sir Rynhart, Sir Arrow... I told you that I had no spirits in that fight. Why wouldn't they help me against our enemy? There was no time to think about the implications then, not when there was a creature trying to kill us all, but with this, and what I can feel..."

The druid paused, unsure quite how to admit to such a crime. "If it meant to attack Lady Whisper based on that mark, then I can only surmise that it was our friend, not foe."

"For a friend," Emma noted, "It seemed awfully intent on eating us. Or pulverising us. One a combination of the two, with extra stomping."

“Her words may have some validity to them. Were any of its actions unprovoked?” Ruan interjected. At this, Dorian looked slightly sheepish.

Parlina glanced at the two scouts before focusing on Emma, a grim set to her expression. "Exactly. We attacked it. How do we, and I hate to say this Lady Whisper, but how do we know it wouldn't have just left us all alone once it felt the threat was removed?"

"It would explain why my wards barely touched it," Dorian said, looking like he'd just realised he'd kicked a puppy, "They were designed against voidlings. I thought it was just too powerful, but ..."

"We're getting off-topic here," Shana noted, "We can talk about whether the creature needed putting down later, right now we need to address more immediate concerns."

"I suppose it's up to me to provide the background to Whisper acquiring that mark. I doubt she even remembers herself." Arrow said, "Back where we come from, there was a succubus working for the Sealed One. She was powerful - stronger than any of us could handle even in groups, she almost killed me and several others."

The soldier paused to collect his thoughts, "I am uncertain of the exact circumstances surrounding it, but this succubus gained influence over Whisper. It was under her sway that she served the Orsa for a time, before Sylvire was able to subdue her. After a lengthy process, she and some others of us were able to banish the parts of her under the succubus' influence."

Arrow glanced at Whisper, "We are certain that the process was a success, or she would not be here. Sylvire was endangered as much as anyone during her time under the demoness' influence, and if she is certain, then so am I."

Emma raised her hand, "I'm sorry, you lost me at the part where you waved a magic wand and made it all better." she said dryly, "Succubi are good at what they do, you don't just 'fix' that. Even I'd struggle to reverse an indoctrination once it's complete, and I'm an expert on fixing what demons break."

"I ought to add," Arrow interrupted, "That the succubus is now dead."

"That doesn't necessarily mean that the influence is broken," Emma said, "Merely that the succubus isn't around to make use of it any more. What if she's been programmed to serve others, and they turn up?"

"I don't think that's the biggest of our problems right now," Parlina said from her stretcher, fighting against weariness to contribute something in her ally's defence.

“Isn't it?” Ruan interjected. “Ridding ourselves of our current predicament does us no good if there's a horde of voidlings lying in wait for us.”

"Just five minutes ago you were adamant in stating that nobody would be left behind, regardless of liabilities," Arrow said, "If we do not believe that Whisper is deliberately leading voidlings to us, how would you propose we address this problem? And if she were leading them to us consciously, why tell us?"

Shana rolled her eyes, "Isn't it obvious? Because now we're a divided group. We're in serious trouble, and we're slowly losing any semblance of unity that we'd picked up in our short time together. Right when we least need it, in the middle of hostile territory. Next thing the voidlings will strike, taking advantage of our division. It's textbook espionage."

Even Brent seemed to be leaning in favor of Shana, his earlier interjection on Whisper's behalf giving way beneath the mounting evidence against the girl. “If the girl is responsible for everything that has happened, deliberate or not, just what do you propose?” He growled irritably in Arrow's direction.

"I propose that you do not take it upon yourself to condemn our ally to a solitary demise for a crime of circumstance," Arrow retorted, scowling, "How would you act were it one of your own unwillingly carrying this mark?"

Brent's response was that which he frequently utilized when he didn't care to make a decision on a matter. Storm off. Though given their confined location, storming off was more akin to turning about in a huff and figuratively wiping his hands of the situation.

Meanwhile, Whisper herself seemed to have little to say in her defense and was doing her damndest to simply be forgotten in the background of the increasingly heated debate.

Several hours ago...

As his party was led to the beastmen's village, Niv followed at a shadow's distance, stealthily keeping to the trees. He placed a lot of faith in his own natural light-footedness and concept of stealth, but he didn't want to take any chances that his scent or any unintentional noises might betray him, and so had cast a sound and scent barrier about himself. Shortly after his pursuit of the captors began, one of the beasts' must have heard his footsteps, for he hid himself from view just as its gaze directed itself towards his previous position. Even with them unaware of his presence, his chances of managing to free his party unnoticed were incredibly slim, and he didn't need anything impeding on his ability to do so. After all, they were the ones paying his wages.

While in his little magickal barrier, he couldn't hear or smell anything outside of it, and so he wasn't privy to the group's conversations. His lack of extended hearing somewhat impeded on his sense of balance, but not to the point that it would cause him to fall out of the trees or anything; it was only when he used this spell that he fully realised how much he depended on his ears to guide him.

After a few hours of keeping tail and a short break, Niv arrived at the outskirts of the village. It's sheer size caught him off-guard. Up until then, he'd always assumed that the beastmen of lore lived, quite literally, [i]in[i] the trees. It was still very primitive compared to the cities he was used to, but definitely more sophisticated than what he'd envisioned.

After a quick skirting of the village's perimeter, the half-elf gathered a general concept of its layout, and quickly formulated a viable route to its center, where his party was being held captive. It was going to be tricky, but he believed that he just might be able to get in and out without any of the beasts noticing.

He tilted his head to the sky, searching for the sun above the thick foliage of the forest. It was hard to tell what time of day it was; it was too early for it to be past noon, and he couldn't see the sun direcly above. Though waiting until nightfall would definitely give him more cover to slip in and get everyone out, it probably wouldn't be advisable; there was no telling what the savages might do to his party or when, and he himself wasn't exactly known for his patience. He grudgingly decided it would be best to free them without delay.

Niv placed a hand on the nape of his neck and gave it a roll, summoning the energy to cast enough cloaks about himself to be nigh completely undetectable. He waved a hand in front of his face to make sure the spells had been cast correctly, pleased when he saw nothing but the slightest of distortions as it passed through the air.

"Alright. Let's go and bust their asses out." He muttered, hopping down from the tree he was perched in and immediately set out for the center of the settlement, being sure to avoid the sightlines of the unsuspecting villagers, for it would only take one to notice the distortions he caused and raise an alarm. He made a dash across a very open gap when he believed no one was looking, scolding himself when he heard one of the beasts utter a throaty "Hunh?" followed by a low "What was that?" as he bolted behind the cover of a rather large tree trunk. He waited in silence for a few moments, peeking his head around the corner after a good few minutes had passed. He sighed with relief as he saw the beast looking at him turn its head and resume its watch, scoping the layout quickly and darting out across the gap to another trunk.

His insertion proceeded like this for a good while, stopping every so often due to the overly alert senses of the 'people' of the village. He cursed them for being so damn aware of their surroundings, but at the same time admired them for it; not many had ever noticed him when cloaked, let alone multiple times and in the same day.

The large central building he'd seen his party disappear in to was only a hundred or so meters away from him now. Niv peered out from his cover and glanced around the structure rapidly, surveying it's happenings for a good few minutes. There were a few guards surrounding the small building, two standing static at its entrance. There was no way he wasn't getting in without slitting a few necks. The idea didn't exactly appeal to him, but it mattered not; these lesser-beings were holding his party captive, and he wasn't letting them get off without paying him. If anything, he'd demand double for his efforts today.

Synchronising his movements with that of the patroling units, he sprinted to the building's dry, earthy face, pressing his back against it so as to minimize the appearance of any distortions. Slowly but surely, he slid his way toward the building's entrance, and the guards standing in front of it, and drew his hunting knife, sure to sound cloak himself once again before doing so. He edged towards them, careful not to attract the attention of the surrounding guards. He was now only inches away from the two beasts. He stared at them for a moment with strange fascination; he'd never actually seen one of these felinoid-folk before; he'd only heard tale of them, and even at that, they'd been presumed extinct for a good while. They had a very strange demeanor with which they held themselves; it was similar to that of most elves, but more... powerful, whereas the elves were more elegant... He'd probably hate himself later for destroying something so beautiful.

As Niv prepared to strike, an unforeseen variable entered the scene.”Papa! Papa! I want to help guard the humans!” a child's voice called out as a juvenile felinoid joined the two guards at the door. “Can I?” the child asked as he looked up at the guards on watch. “I finished all my lessons,” he added quickly.

“Alright, but you have to keep quiet,” the child's father replied as he hoisted the kid up and placed it atop a crate resting against the building. “Here, a good lookout point is crucial in spotting your enemies from afar. There, see yonder?” he asked as he pointed out towards the tree line. “The shrikes in the trees? When there's danger near, they take to the skies, one of the few safe refuges left to them. Learn to use the beasts and trust their senses to compliment our own and soon you'll be seeing the forest from all the eyes that fly and crawl.”

Around the corner of the building low giggling could be heard as more of the children arrived, trying to get a peek at the prisoners inside by peering through cracks in the wood planks and mudbricks that made up the wall of the shack.

Niv halted in his tracks as the small, fur-covered children soon flooded the entrance. There was no way he'd be able to dispatch of all of them without compromising the mission, and even then, he wasn't sure killing all of them would be worth the fees he'd be charging; something about slaughter had just never sat well with him, no matter how much of an aptitude he had for just that.

In any case, he had to lessen their numbers before they swelled any further. He reached out with his consciousness to try and cast an illusion upon one of the felines near him, and was taken a back when he found their minds impervious. He grunted under his breath with frustration, glancing around him for something, anything that he could draw their attention with.

Come now, Anivré, you've dealt with situations more challenging than this...

Then something dawned upon him. He reached out again, past the beastmen and toward the treetops in the direction the adult had pointed. From what he'd gathered, there was some sort of bird up there; a shrike, he believed they'd said, and a whole flock of them at that. He found their tiny sparks and grinned to himself.

In an instant, the treetops began to rustle as the air erupted with the startled cries of the shrikes as they abandoned their perches, their tiny bodies amassed into a living black cloud, fleeing its point of origin.

The result was instant. In the span of a moment, the village had erupted into activity. Warning whistles sounded from the tree lines and the previously giggling children took off at a sprint to seek out shelter elsewhere. Even the guards surrounding the storage building broke off as a passing beastman signaled them down. Taking off at a run the departing felinoids made for the village border to reinforce their scouts. Only the two guards at the door and the small child remained.

Niv shook his head. Though his plan had worked, he'd sort of hoped everyone would leave, though he knew that in itself was highly unlikely. Nonetheless, his resolve was absolute as he steeled himself, creeping within arms reach of the two. In one graceful arc, he slit the throat of the closest beastman, twirling his body around in a sort of grim dance and embedding his knife in the throat of the second before he even had so much as a chance to react. He pulled his knife out quickly and twirled to the child, spinning his knife around in his hand and bringing the pommel down firmly and quickly upon the nape of the child's neck, silencing the screams he had opened his mouth to emit.

The child stirred as he was knocked to the ground, but Niv thought naught of it, whiping his knife on his already blood-stained, if not 'invisible' clothes, as he turned his back upon his handiwork. He wasn't proud of having killed a father in front of his child, but... it was necessary in his eyes.

He pushed open the door to the cramped shack and lowered his cloaks, sheathing his knife as he stood before his surprised party, a cocky grin plastered upon his face.

"Hey assholes. Miss me?"

As the door of the holding cell swung open, Emma stood up straight, expecting one of the Mira. When she saw Niv, her eyebrows shot into the air. "Oh sweet Light above Niv, please tell me you haven't done something drastic. Say you've charmed the mind out of their leader, or you've put the place to sleep, or something equally unlikely..."

At Niv's back movement could be seen as a small felinoid child with blood stained fur had begun to try and rouse the slain beastmen in vain. Piercing eyes narrowed on Niv's back and he did what any Mira would do under the circumstances. He grabbed up his father's fallen spear, and with speed and strength unbecoming of his small stature, he hurled the sharpened object for Niv's lower back with a loud cry of anger.

"Watch your back!" Emma barked quickly, dropping the sarcasm in an instant.

With a start, Niv ducked to his right, but a moment too late, as the spear grazed his shoulder, taking a chunk of flesh with it. He grimmaced in pain, but it was negligible compared to the 'new' threat that had presented itself. He turned, clutching at his shoulder with a sneer to see the child he had knocked out, or at least, thought he had knocked out, standing and glaring at him, eyes brimming with hatred.

"I thought I'd knocked you out..." He rose and turned to face him, perplexed.

Crouching, the Mira child grabbed the second spear at his feet before widening his stance and readying himself. Every tendon and muscle in his form was poised to attack.

Pushing past Niv, Emma swiftly extented her hand, a spear of ice shooting outwards in her grip to be levelled at the Mira child, "Listen, kid, this is a hut full of imprisoned warriors and mages. As noble as your efforts are, and magic resistance or not, you can't take on all of us. There's no sense throwing your own life away - there's no honour in that." The blood mage gambled on what she had perceived as a very traditional society. The honour card was easy to pull, and she genuinely didn't want to fight a child - even she wasn't that harsh.

Meanwhile, all through the village the place had rapidly descended into sheer chaos. Niv's distraction had allowed more than just himself to move undetected. An ominous shriek sounded in the distance on the other side of the village, and the shouts of the remaining watchers quickly followed. While the Mira focused on the forest to the south, shadowy black forms began to pour from the trees to the north. The voidlings charged into the village, shouts and cries for assistance going up as the villagers either fled to rally the main body of the tribe or attempted to buy the others time.

“What in the blazes is going on out there?” Brent demanded loudly as he tried to push his way to the forefront of the group.

Even the Mira child slightly lowered his spear to turn about, eyes going wide at the sight of the skirmishes rapidly descending across the village. Dropping the weapon, the child took off at a run to seek shelter elsewhere.

Emma cursed - she recognised those shrieks. "Voidlings!" she barked, "Enough standing around, everyone out! Shapeshifter - take the druidess and stay back from the fight, everyone else I want a clean and organised retreat until we find a defensible position! Move!"

As the blood mage strode out of the hut into the open, she discarded her ice spear, watching the Mira child disappear into the village. The corpses of the two guards at her feet caused her to grimace - hopefully that wouldn't come back to bite them. They could be clear of here before long, the voidlings would keep their captors tied up for long enough to cover an escape.

The other Aelorans emerged from the building rapidly, Erina shrugging off an arm offered by Talos, determined to stand on her own two feet. Walking to the front of the group, Shana gave Emma a knowing glare. "If what the girl says is true, escaping this won't mean anything. The creatures will follow us regardless, unless we leave her."

Emma opened her mouth to tell Shana to save it for another time, but was interrupted by Talos calling sharply, "Voidlings to our right! Their focus is on the beastmen but it won't be long before they notice us."

The blood mage turned with a nod, "Shapeshifter - you said you knew where they'd stored our weapons?" she queried, looking to Rynhart.

Rynhart didn't need further prompting, leading off at a jog for the storage building directly across from theirs. He cast a glance in either direction, but there was no sign of guards left around the building. Every available village hand had turned to the more immediate threat – the inky black swarms.

Arrow raised his hand as he emerged from the hut, summoning his bow and arrows to him. The weapon appeared in a flash of light as his quiver and contents formed on his back, and thus armed, the soldier took off after Rynhart. He still needed to recover the Sword.

Parlina went after Arrow, quick footsteps taking her out of the safety of the hut they had been imprisoned within. Though she had been deprived of the Javelin the young woman was hardly helpless, but appeared to be extra vigilant of foes drawing near to her, mindful that the spirits fought by her side again she was still weakened from her earlier injury.

Niv's face flushed as the screeches of the black creatures filled the air, fleeing the building with his newly-rescued comrades. He pulled his knife out of it's sheath and clutched it, knuckles turning white. As the others ran in to the adjacent building, the half-elf stood outside, glancing around and bouncing from foot to foot as he anxiously waited.

As the group collected their belongings, Emma emerged from the storage room with her staff and surveyed the village. It was clear that there was a sizable force of void creatures attacking, certainly more than the Mira could likely fend off. "Dorian, you know this forest - how far are we from a safe haven of any sort? Somewhere we can evade the pursuit of these creatures even if only for a short time."

Dorian shook his head, "I don't know this part of the forest. We never venture this far out on a regular basis - and it's unlikely we'd find anywhere they won't be able to follow with our homing beacon going out."

All around the group skirmishes continued to break out across the village and even children were caught out in the open trying to fend off voidlings that seemed to pour from the forest in droves. Crawling backwards across the ground, one such child scrambled to escape a void beast that had knocked it from its feet. The creature was a twisted thing to behold, a writhing mass of tentacles and gnashing teeth.

It was Brent that reacted, breaking ranks as he split off from his own group to snatch the child up while bringing his greatsword across in a wide sweep. With a booming shockwave, the voidling simply exploded under the force of the blow and the destructive vibrations. As the burly soldier passed the flailing child off to the nearest Mira that ran past, he turned back to his comrades with a growl. “That little bastard bit me,” he grumbled with a shake of his hand.

Signal whistles were sounding up and down the ranks of villagers and many of the Mira were breaking off and disengaging from combat as they fell back and made for the southern forest. However, there were dozens more that stayed there ground, engaging the masses of voidlings with an indomitable ferocity. They were greatly out numbered though.

The chaos around them grew as the cat-people retreated as best was able in the circumstances. Parlina had not said anything for the longest time, listening to the half-made plans made for retreating from the village, which would effectively leave their captors to their fate.

"These people are villagers," Parlina began, eyes focused upon Emma, realising that it was the Aelorans she would have the hardest time convincing to remain. "They have done us no wrongs, merely protected their lands rightly from trepassers. We have brought destruction down upon them, and now you're just going to leave them to die?"

Parlina grimaced, glancing across at Arrow and Rynhart. "And even if you don't believe it Emma, we are the Patronus. Our small group are more experienced fighting voidlings than all these people put together. I refuse to leave without at least trying to help them retreat."

Rynhart raised a brow at Parlina's words, but something in the young druid rang strongly of Taima's own convictions. His support was offered only through the faintest twitch of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

"No wrongs?" Emma glowered at Parlina, "They murdered our companion in cold blood because we walked through a forest with no indication of territory. If you believe it justified to slay anyone who wanders into your lands without warning, then I've severely misjudged you, druidess."

The blood mage shook her head, "We owe these people nothing. This isn't a fairy tale full of heroes, if we help them then we're going to suffer for it. Whether that's by being slaughtered by voidlings - who I might point out we have a little experience in fighting, something along the lines of 'our entire lives' - or having the cat-peoples' weapons turned on us when they find out what Niv did to their guards."

Niv grimmaced at mention of his actions, placing a hand on his hip. "For once I agree with you, Emma. I do not think they will take to my actions kindly."

Shana nodded her head, "It would be idiocy to stay here. Idealism will get us all killed."

Glancing from Emma to Parlina, Talos sighed, "It seems wrong to me to abandon them, even if they are our enemies. The Void is a foe to all of us, division will only make it stronger."

"I should've counted on you for the moral beacon," Erina piped in, "We can't put an end to a swarm this large any more than we could when we had our full numbers and power on the plains. We need to make for somewhere fortified and figure out what to do with the marked girl."

"I cared for Lianna as much as the rest of you, but we cannot afford to declare an entire people our enemies for one death," Talos said, "Aelora must stand as one as it did not during the Fall, or we will never recover."

"Void take this bickering!" Emma exclaimed, "We're running out of time before we'll all be dead anyway!"

“I'm sure the furballs can take care of themselves,” Brent replied with a gruff grunt.

“He's right, these people know the woods better than we do,” Ruan seconded.

Whisper meanwhile was rubbing at her arm again, eyes shifting from person to person. She hadn't spoken a word since the incident earlier but she spoke lowly now, to Arrow. “If... if this is my fault...” She didn't finish the sentence, letting the unease about her speak it for her.

"Whether or not your mark is attracting these things, you're doing nothing intentionally," Arrow replied, "Don't feel guilty for things you could not have changed. They brought you here."

Using the tip of the Javelin, Parlina pointed at those fleeing the voidlings that overran their village, scanning her eyes across all who had spoken. She seemed lost for a moment, floundering under the pressure that was rapidly building upon this decision, before steeling herself through willpower alone. When she looked up at Emma again, there was only determination.

"They are not our enemy. I'll stay and face the consequences of what Niv did, just as much as I'll take what Whisper has brought down on us all, strangers and allies alike. I'll stay and prove to them that we're not what they think we are. We did not mean to kill their kin," Parlina flinched ever so slightly, "Nor do I intend to leave them to clean up our mess. If you want to live, we have a better chance in greater numbers than we do getting hunted down in unfamiliar woods."

Rynhart nodded. “I too will stay with the druid.”

"As will I," Arrow said, "I stand with Parlina. The Patronus did not get this far divided."

Emma scowled, "I don't know about you, but when I stab a cat-man in the throat, I kind of expect him to keel over and die. That's not a link that I generally miss. I meant to kill what I killed, and I don't intend to try and make it out that I was actually aiming for his leg, but my hand slipped."

The blood mage folded her arms, "You're missing the key part where they ambush us without warning and shoot one of us in the throat. If it weren't for dumb luck or bad aiming, that could've been half a dozen of us dead before we had time to react, not one. Would they be our enemies then? How many of us do they have to kill before it crosses the line between 'rightfully defending against tresspassers' and a cold-blooded slaughter?"

A faint scraping overhead was the only warning offered as a strange imp like voidling dropped from the building above, claws raking for purchase as it fell atop Emma.

Shrieking a profanity in surprise, Emma half buckled from the weight of the creature before she reached up and violently jerked the creature away before it could gain a solid grip on her. The claws left scratch marks as she threw it over her head to the ground, but nothing serious, and she brought her boot down on its neck with a crunch. "I'm trying to monologue here for the Light's sake!"

Parlina hesitated, snatching a quick glance down at the voidling to be sure it would not get up. "I meant the slaughter that started this whole mess. The killing of the spirit-creature that we mistook for an enemy."

"The what?" Emma scowled, "The ogre-thing? Since when was that a..." The blood mage shook her head, "Right, we figured out it wasn't a voidling. But it's a pretty significant assumption that it was their's, and it was going to kill us if we went all daisies-and-sunshine on it and decided to leave the poor rampaging monstrosity be."

“For light's sake! We don't have time for this!” Brent scowled. “If we're staying, then let's get our blasted asses moving before we miss the whole battle, eh? At least then we're being productive while we stand around,” the burly soldier declared as he hefted his sword over his shoulder.

Parlina looked across at Rynhart, and nodded at Brent's words as she turned away from Emma. "I'm staying to fight." Then she set off at a quick pace toward the fighting without a glance back.

Rynhart offered a tip of his head to Emma in departure before he was gone as well, whilst Arrow simply shrugged as he turned to follow, Whisper in tow.

"As am I," Talos spoke up then, meeting Emma's disbelieving eyes with his own stoic gaze. The robed man shook his head, "This war is not one where we can hold grudges," he said, turning to follow Parlina.

Brent offered only a sheepish shrug to Emma as he too headed off after Parlina at a jog.

Meanwhile Ruan scowled as the group began to split ways and cast a look to Emma. It was her call.

Dorian looked to Ruan and sighed, "Well, I suppose I'm to blame for this breakdown of diplomacy between man and beast, so I ought to go and shoot some things to make up for it. That always works." The hunter grinned half-heartedly, before turning and walking away after the others.

"For pity's sake!" Emma exclaimed, "When did we devolve from a unit of soldiers into a gaggle of squabbling children trying to make a point?!" The blood mage muttered a curse under her breath, "Well now that we've lost our guide, we aren't going to get bloody far through this forest before the voidlings kill everyone and come after us."

Sighing, Emma kicked the dead voidling bitterly, "Until now I didn't understand why Ciela always had a stick up her ass. Turns out it's the only way to get things done around here. Let's all go be idiots together then..." she muttered as she begrudgingly set off after the others.

Fuming, Shana threw her hands up in despair, whilst Erina met her eyes and shook her head. The two reluctantly followed Emma.

Niv was the last to move, shaking his head in utter disbelief as his entire troupe decided against their better judgement that their best line of action would be to stay and fight. As Shana and Erina trailed after Emma, he pulled his hunting knife from its sheath, giving it a twirl before setting off at a dash after them.

"Whatever." He muttered to himself, before raising his voice so their steel-witted leader could hear. "We're all going to die!" He cried melodramatically.

On the edge of the settlement, there was chaos.

Grunts and roars filled the air as a dozen Mira warriors locked into combat with the voidling forces, each beastman standing tall above their shorter adversaries. The hunters were moving with specific intent, not engaging enemies face to face, but instead distracting them with feints and counters, keeping them busy, buying time for the village to be evacuated.

In the midst of it all, Goliath was in heaven, the beats of battle thumping through his veins. Here, in the midst of a field of enemies, cutting a bloody swath of limbs and heads, he was in his element as a warrior; fierce, deadly, powerful. Twirling the ancestral battleaxe he favoured over his head, he swung in a wide arc, chopping off a tendril of one voidling and beheading a second, immediately leaping into the air to avoid three more from getting behind him.

Landing on his feet, he took a moment to gain his bearings, looking for his son in the midst of it all.

Nearby, Myst found himself losing track of the whole situation in the heat of battle. Fire burning in his mind, he ducked, slicing both short blades through the voidling in front of him.

Moving quickly, and well aware of the voidlings behind him, Myst dove further into the line. Almost like a dervish with speed, a whirling wind of blades. He almost didn't care that he'd lost track of a lot of the tactical teachings his father had drilled into him. Didn't really care that he'd got himself thoroughly surrounded by the dark monstrosities. He was in the core of battle, the pumping fire that set the world so bright.

He was alive. Snarling once more, the short blade in his right hand was let go as it refused to come out of the almost sticky creature he'd just felled with it. Throwing the other one into the creature just about to pounce on him from behind, he pulled out the larger blade. He knew he couldn't keep a full sweep of defense without the twin short blades. But he didn't care anymore. Because the fire burned bright. The small wounds weren't even felt as the greatsword plunged through voidling flesh.

Goliath had barely spotted his son over the sea of fighting bodies when he was confronted with yet another voidling, to his right and just out of greatsword reach. Pulling a dagger from his belt; rust-covered and filthy, he threw the blade with all the strength he could afford, watching as it sank with a satisfying thunk into flesh. Not stopping to see the wound, he continued cutting his swath; his blade a fish through water as he cut his way towards his legacy.

Nearing Myst, he growled his displeasure at the weapon choice, and instead opted to slide in behind the other male, pressing his sweat-soaked fur against his son's, solving the defensive problems with both heavy weapons.

"Good day for a battle," the leader of the Mira snarled, baring his teeth over his shoulder, a flash of yellow against white fur. As soon as a voidling leaped into the range of his axe, Goliath cut him down in mid air, spinning the blade as he regained it.

"Press them from the village!" He hollared, his voice hoarse, spinning the axe once more.

Myst's red tainted world was slightly brought back into focus by the sudden pressing of his father's fur at his back. Slashing up across the almost wolfish voidling jumping through the half-circle he'd carved, Myst grunted.

"A good enough day. It's a pity there isn't a end of them." The young Mira's blade was well soaked with death now as he slammed it through the next wave.

"Otherwise we might," he grunted, chosing to completely avoid doing anything near resembling a stab, due to the lack of effect range. "Not have to run." He winced back as the thing chopped in half tried to latch itself onto his leg for a few moments before it lost motion.

Goliath nodded, cleaving one of the voidling's heads in a vicious downward swipe of the axe, shoving sharp claws into the face of another and tossing it backwards, utilizing his powerful limb. "Take solace and glory in the fact that we survive." He grunted in response to his offspring, whirling the axe over his head to prevent a leaping attack, the axe's force throwing the creature far to the left. During the throw, his attention was drawn towards a Mira warrior - Gremroth - falling beneath a crushing throng of voidling bodies in a surely mortal situation. Goliath yelled a futile warning towards his brother, but his voice was whipped away by the sounds of battle, his eyes widening as the bigger warrior disappeared amidst the hoarde. With a roar, Goliath struck at a voidling that had the misfortune to be closest to him at the time, sending the creature falling backwards, in two neat halves.

"We cannot keep this up for much longer," he growled, his rage evident as he readied his stance once more.

Just when it appeared that all hope of saving the fallen Mira warrior was lost, the ground itself moved to encase him in a thick earthen shield, separating him from the voidlings. Then spikes erupted upwards into the foul creatures, piercing nearly all of them at least once, their shrieks adding to the chaotic din that had replaced the quiet bustle of the village.

With the Javelin safely stowed away on her back once more, Parlina had her stave in hand as she halted about eight feet from the epicentre of the battlefield. "I'll cover you!" she called as friends raced past, knowing that entering the fray was beyond foolish in her condition.

Rynhart was only paces behind Parlina and as several voidlings split off from the skirmishes to lunge for the new arrival, a purple miasma engulfed the shapeshifter. Before it had time even to dissipate, a massive purple tiger leaped free of the smoke to intercept the nearest voidling in mid lunge for Parlina. Bearing it to the ground under tooth and fang, several more of the voidbeasts latched onto his form with writhing tentacles and gnashing teeth. As they scrambled for purchase against his thick fur, they too were subsequently torn free and left in broken heaps upon the ground.

Whilst the battle raged onwards at the Mira's front line, the warrior who had retreated up to the treetops was in danger of being overwhelmed by the madly scrambling voidlings attempting to reach him. Abruptly, however, an arrow soared through the air and slammed into the side of one of the creatures, delivering a burst of force which knocked it from the tree as well as several of its fellows. Soon after, a volley of more shots followed, felling the climbing creatures like insects being swatted from the leg of a giant. Bow in hand, Arrow paced steadily forwards, halting a short way from the combat and firing arrow after arrow into the swarm.

Whisper hung back, lingering hesitantly behind Parlina, her eyes scanning the battle field. One hand came to rub at her head as if she had a headache and her brow furrowed. Her gaze lowered to the ground and she was murmuring something under her breath, the words too soft to hear.

When it seemed she would do nothing at all, her head snapped up and her eyes flew wide. In a scarcely discernible ripple, the air surrounding Whisper fluctuated outwards much like the snap of a rubber band. A brief brush of wind gusted past the combatants, ruffling fur and clothes, but it was only the voidlings that were picked up and flung. Dozens in total were simply cast away in the blink of an eye.

The voidlings did not stay down long though and they began to scramble back to their feet, crawling and clambering over each other in their frenzy to throw themselves back into the fray.

The brief fluctuation in the skirmishing was broken by the shuddering and then fragmentation of the rock dome that had been erected over one of the Mira. Rising from the rubble and shaking his blood stained fur off was the dominating figure of Gremroth. Breathing heavily he snarled a warning with such ferocity that even the voidlings hesitated in their approach as they tried to amass enough cohesion for another rush.

“Goliath, we can't hold them any longer,” he barked out across the battle field.

Goliath grunted his assent as his axe bit deep into another foe, stepping back into the circle of death he and his son had created. "Indeed, we cannot."

He lifted his head skyward, and let out a piercing, two-note whistle that shot over the melee, the well-known sound of the Mira retreat.

Myst, in the brief moment of calm as the wave washed across the field of battle, glanced back to see what it was that caused the wave, and found himself shocked to see the prisoners standing at the front, fighting with the Mira.

Shocked enough that he didn't anticipate the flurry of the voidlings clambering back into battle, and was only alerted to it by the stab of a pincer into his arm.

Growling, he sought to throw it off as he slashed the next one to charge, eventually resorting to bodily grabbing the pincers and pulling them out, throwing the dark and twisted thing and the next voidling before slashing another in half.

As the whistle behind him sounded, he shook his now bloodied body, before slashing another monster down and joining the whistle himself for a moment. Even the whistle and the blood seeping from the wounds on his body, however, and the battle itself, couldn't take his mind off the prisoner's sudden aid...

As the signal whistle spread, Gremroth too raised his head to sound the retreat. Up and down the ranks of the Mira, the call spread like wild fire, and as one, they simply broke from battle. With the voidlings still in disarray, their withdraw was swift. However, they did not fall back through the village towards where the rest of the Mira had gone. They were heading westward with voidlings clambering in a frenzy to pursue. However, the majority of the voidling body began to splinter off to focus on those that remained, rather than those that were escaping into the forest beyond.