Raven's Story

Raven had been doing exactly what he had set out to do by the time the others showed up. He was sitting at the table talking to some of the solders while some random songs continued to be sung. He looked up to see the group and gave them a friendly wave until he heard the call to go. His face sunk into a rather side look as he looked up and down from his cup and up to Connor. He let out a sigh of disappointment and took the cup from the table. “I’m taking this.” He quickly stood up and walked out of the happy scene with a disappointed face. He took a sip from his cup as he patted Connors back walking past him and outside. It put a smile on his face to see Iris back on her feet and every one back in spirits and to there normal form, no deaths today, and hopefully he could keep it that way.

Raven looked over the much larger group that had formed. He assumed that they had decided to join up though there reasoning was a bit out of his reach at the moment. None the less it looked like there small group had doubled in size in only a day, not something he was really expecting but by no means did it seem bad, at least not from what he could see. The bunny Silka, an excellent front line and be rather helpful with recon given her alternative way of seeing. The mage whose name he had yet to memories, support was the best he could think of with his limited knowledge, although he expected to see his talents soon enough. The green haired man Raymond, from what he had seen a fighter if ever there was one front line, possible recon, although Silka more likely than not out classed him in this. Finally the brown haired girl, sister to Raymond seemed to had tagged along as well, a cleric from what he understood he didn’t pick up a name before he had left, her role would be rather clear given her profession, best to keep her to the rear. “Well seems to some group gathered hu?” he took another sip from his cup getting lose to empty. “So where to now?” he said with a raised brow. Figured he’d start looking at routes now sense there seemed to be a larger want to leave already.

“So where to now?” Raven asked.

Connor looked over at Edge, as if to ask "how did this guy become our tactician?" Raven was good at what he did, but his love of drinking and merriment had Connor ill at ease. It wasn't that he disliked Raven, but he wasn't too fond of his fun loving attitude. Being a Grimsbane was serious business and it seemed that he didn't treat it seriously enough in Connor's eyes. Edge though had a different opinion. While he wouldn't touch alcohol himself, he didn't mind Raven's habits and felt that Connor was just a bit too stiff. Edge definitely wanted to make sure that the Grimsbane did their job, but he didn't mind it when they took some time to just relax and enjoy themselves.

"Same old Connor." He said, patting him on the back.

"Alright then... Let me think..." Edge said as he put his hand over his mouth to think.

Connor looked over at him once again.

"I think we should investigate the rumors of a bandit hideout not far from the border city of Quve. It's about a half a day's trek to the southwest and. I know a route off the beaten path that could lead straight passed the city and into the region where the hideout is said to be, so with your permission Edge I'll show this route to Raven so he can plan the best approach once we reach our target area." He said.

Edge nodded.

"Fair enough. Alright Raven, get the info from Connor and start drawing up a battle plan!" He ordered.

Connor nodded and walked over to Raven as he pulled out his own map and began marking the route before giving it to Raven. The route itself was fairly straightforward. Connor made note of an animal trail at the edge of the woods a few miles north from the city which led through the woods towards their target area which was highlighted in red ink. The animal trail was windy and slightly confusing to look at by itself, but Connor had also marked in red the best route he believed they should take to reach their destination in the shortest amount of time. The only thing he hadn't been able to plan for was how best to approach the target area. His drawn route through the forest ended a few hundred meters away from their search area, and go figure that the area itself where the bandits were said to dwell was littered with large rocky outcrops despite the forested region it lay in. This was bad news for the group since it gave their enemies plenty of cover to work with. Also, the rest of the forest was uneven terrain the closer you got to the search area which gave the group a poor line of sight so long as they stuck to the animal trail.

Raven had his work cut out for him to draw up an effective battle plan for such poor conditions, but being the tactician that's what he was there for. As soon as Connor had handed over the map he took point and began leading the group away towards the southwest in the direction of Quve. As he began the trek, he did a quick mental check of his equipment and supplies. Thanks to the encounter with the bandits, he was running low on his own medical supplies. His Vulnerary was already about half empty, and if he planned on surviving he'd have to restock after this next mission regardless of whether they found bandits or not. Healer or no, she could only be in a single location at one time so if he received an injury which she could not immediately attend to, he'd need his Vulnerary handy. Once he was satisfied he continued focusing on the path ahead. It was still late at night when they left and dawn way approaching quickly. Connor calculated that they'd likely arrive at their destination about midday so at least this time they'd be fighting in daylight as opposed to nighttime when their eyesight was at its worst.

Silka didn't have to worry about that, but the rest of them did. Connor almost envied Silka's ability to use her ears to "see" the world around her, but also felt bad that she couldn't actually see the way they did. It had its perks, but was still a slightly sobering thought to know that sight could be so easily taken away.

The trek to Quve went into dawn and through to mid morning as the afternoon began to creep up on them. their was some idle chatter among the group, but nothing too substantial. Iris stayed in the back with Edge while Connor and Raven led the group with Silka close behind and everyone else in the middle. As they reached a turning point near a large hill, the forest came into view and Connor led them all over to the area where the animal trail began. It was so faint that it almost couldn't be recognized as an animal trail, but Connor had been here multiple times before in his travels and knew this trail by heart. Still, once they reached their destination they'd need Raven's advice on how to proceed safely into the search area without alerting the bandits. The animal trail was easy enough to follow once you found it, but otherwise was still very confusing with many turns and pathways which led to nowhere. Connor carefully led the group, who now traveled in a straight line as opposed to a bunch, through the trail. This way and that, following very specific turns and changes in the brush beneath their feet, they walked carefully and quietly towards their destination.

Finally, after a half an hour of walking and crouching, they arrived within striking range of their search area and Connor deferred to Raven to announce the battle plan.

As soon as the pub's door was opened, the sounds and smells flew from the door and hit Cedric like a ton of bricks. He scanned the area for the group's tactician, and sure enough there he was, chugging down beer, pounding the table and heartily adding his own voice to the chorus. Although it was probably too early to judge, Cedric was rather unimpressed by the tactician's behaviour. Surely he ought to forego binge drinking in favour of activities that would leave him with a clearer head. Cedric had always disliked the beverages that were sold in pubs, but was rather fond of wine; red wine especially, but knew when to put the bottle down.

After Connor had somehow managed to bellow above the din of the pub, the tactician reluctantly left his table and stepped outside, taking his mug with him. He soon began to discuss plans with Connor, and within minutes it became apparent that they were to set off immediately.
"But, but..." Cedric began quietly before quickly giving up, as everyone else had already started walking.
He had been walking for almost the entire day, and couldn't bear the thought of continuing to do so. So much for a soft bed and plenty of fresh corpses to experiment on.

The journey seemed to go on forever, and Cedric's movements became more and more zombie-like as the journey went on. His legs felt like jellies with a ball and chain, large bags began to form under his eyes and he found it increasingly difficult to stay awake. Silka bumped into him more than a few times because he had dozed off, making him feel more and more awkward with each bump. Had Silka not possessed the acute hearing of a Taguel, she would not have been able to understand a single word of his mumbled apologies. Even Cedric himself wasn't completely certain of what he was saying.

Even more walking brought them into a forested area where they followed an overgrown footpath through the forest. Cedric stumbled and almost fell multiple times from tripping over brambles and the like. Much to Cedric's chagrin, it took another hour and a half before they reached their destination.

Once they did, Cedric slumped back against a rock and let out a loud, weary sigh. He'd never felt so knackered in his life; having achieved a meagre six hours of sleep in the past three days, all six hours of which had been on the ground, and endured countless hours of walking. He wanted nothing more than to fall asleep there and then, but he could sleep once the mission was over, preferably in a bed.

Raven let out a yawn as the group started walking off. Raven thought the whole idea of jumping from one battle to the next was a poor decision, but nothing could be done now. People tend to fight poorly if there tiered; moral is a powerful thing after all. None the less he pressed on along with the others it coming threw rather clear that the group was tiered, some more than others. He himself was tiered but he was used to it, given his military training keeping him up threw most nights. He was confident it wouldn’t affect him largely enough to take effect on his combat ability.

It felt like such an odd path that they were being lead on but he trust Connor enough to believe in his path, however odd it may be at least they would be hard to fallow. He was questioning the reason behind there sudden departure, they were hardly a military unit and most of what they went on were just rumors, something he was never a fan of. He didn’t like the leaving without any real proof thing and he was sure the others would find it to become old rather quickly, could be in there best interest to talk to Edge about this when there adventure was over. As they arrived at a stopping point he raised a brow at Connor for only a moment before he let out a soft sigh, he was up he supposed.

Raven took a look around the best he could, given their poor vision rom the spot, but he managed. Odd set up the bandits had going for them, all the rocks would work as great cover and the surrounding trees would make this place nearly impossible to find without a map. It was where he would set up camp if needed. There poor vision would work well to hide them as well, if they had poor vision of the surrounding the surroundings had poor vision of them. Even so it wasn’t like they were the ones trying to hide. A few ideas flowed through his head as he looked around at the group and the rocky area, as well as the lack of knowledge of what they were actually up against. It took him a short while bu he came up with two plans.

“All right every one gather around.” He spoke out silently enough to not be heard from outside of their group. “Here’s the plan. The way I see it we have two options that would work best given out situation, both however require some of us to play as bate.” He crotched down over the dirt and picked up a stick beginning to doodle in the ground. “Our first option is a three sided offensive in the rocky terrain.” He went on to draw a rather cartoon picture of both his face an Iris. “Me an Iris will head out into the rocks in an attempt to lure out the enemy forces and have them give chase, and of course flinging what magic we have back at them to keep them in the chase.” He drew a couple of raged looking faces chasing his own. “The second group will consist, Silka, Raymond, and Edge as leader, with who will fallow after the decoy team keeping their distance until the decoy team gives out the signal for you to strike from the side cutting their forces in right down the middle. You’ll be in the thick of it for only a moment so strike quickly and hard.” He drew the three with cartoon faces right in between of the bandits cutting a line right down the middle. “Finally the third team will consist Connor as the lead, with Cedric who will fallow behind team two keeping their distance. This group is to strike from the rear a moment after the bandit’s forces are split” he drew their faces heading towards the back. “As for Our healer friend she well accompany team three until they engage the enemy, from there I leave it to your judgment to go to which ever group needs you most.” He draws her picture off to the side. “If everything goes according to plan their forces should be thrown into confusion with the sudden three fronts, and the rocks obscuring there view.” He crosses two X’s threw both groups of bandits. “Watch or Iris to launch a spell into the air so pay attention to where you see it come from.” He lets out a soft sigh and stands back up brushing off his hands. “If the Decoy team doesn’t manage to find the enemy well resort to plan B which I’ll go over with you if the need arrives.”

Edge, Connor, Iris, and everyone else gathered around upon Raven's request. Edge and Connor listened intently to the plan of action and while they were not exactly strategists, they could see how much trouble Raven had putting this together. The terrain was a beast unto itself and would make any plan difficult, and they both acknowledged that perhaps this mission had been rushed with a simple nod of their heads. Edge was going to say something, but Connor beat him to it and though he was no serious tactician, he had his moments.

"I am not sure that you and Iris should be the bait." He said, taking a closer look at the drawings in the dirt.

"Iris has only just recovered from her wound after all and both of your magic skills are an asset we can't afford to lose. If anything, I think you and Iris should switch places with me. I'll be the bait, and the two of you can help cut their forces from the rear. It'll be more of a surprise and a shock to them to have magic thrown at their backs rather than handheld weapons which they can actually defend against should the chance to see it coming. What do you think Edge?" He asked.

Edge nodded.

"I think he's right Raven, with all due respect. We'll still go with your plan, but you and Iris will take Connor's place and fire magic from the rear to split their forces. That way we keep you mostly out of harms way while allowing you to do much more damage across all of their forces than if you had been the bait before hand."

Edge stood up and looked around.

"Everyone here in agreement? Connor will lure them out and our teams will work to split their forces and isolate small groups so that we can take them down piece by piece rather than in one giant head to head brawl like last time." He said, looking around for objections.

Upon Raven's request, Cedric came closer to see what plan Raven had concocted. The plan was for the Grimsbane to divide into groups, separate the enemy, and then kill them while they were split up. Cedric's role was to accompany Connor and come in from the back and pick off any stragglers. Cedric had no objections to the plan, but the same could not be said for Connor.
"Iris has only just recovered from her wound after all and both of your magic skills are an asset we can't afford to lose. If anything, I think you and Iris should switch places with me. I'll be the bait, and the two of you can help cut their forces from the rear. It'll be more of a surprise and a shock to them to have magic thrown at their backs rather than handheld weapons which they can actually defend against should the chance to see it coming."
Edge was next to speak, voicing his approval of Connor's idea.
"Everyone here in agreement?"
"Not quite, I'm afraid." Cedric stated before he proceeded to pick up a small, pointy rock and draw Connor's face along with those of some bandits a bit behind him, "Should the bandits catch up to Connor, he'll have about as much hope of survival as a pious, Naga-worshipping 5-year-old in a Grimleal temple." Cedric drew arrows from the bandits to Connor, and then put a large cross over Connor, "However, should a mage accompany him, they'll be able to ensure that a distance is kept between the bait and the bandits until Edge's team arrives. Not to blow my own trumpet, but I think I would be the best of the three potential mages for the job. Flux is not a projectile spell like fire, but causes a fluctuation in space where the user decides to place it. It'll be close to the bandits for longer than a fire spell, and coming into contact with Flux has side effects including physical warping, internal hemorrhage, exploding in a bloody mess of bone and flesh, and if we're really lucky we might get to see someone implode."

"Alright then, are we in agreement now?"
"Yes." Raymond said. "But there's something I should say." He took a deep breath, calming his nerves before speaking. "I... I've been here before. Fought these exact bandits before. And it didn't end well when we fought them." He looked around the group, his eyes landing on Lexi. "They're not ordinary bandits. They're Plegian raiders. Ex-Plegian military-cum-outlaws. Plegia would normally hunt them down, except that this bunch decided to start preying on Ylissians. They're trained like soldiers, and they're armed like soldiers."

He looked at Edge. "This will not be an easy fight, but... I think that we can do it. I'm stronger now." He sighed. "I'm not going to back out. I just wanted to let everyone know what we're getting ourselves into.

Connor heard Cedric yell and was in absolutely no rush to disobey. If Raymond's warning was to be taken seriously, these foes were going to be some of the most challenging he'd ever faced before. Connor took off on a sprint with Cedric right behind him. The angry and still flustered and disturbed bandits were now chasing them in force. Connor and Cedric led them back towards the main group where the others were waiting, and as they passed by a certain checkpoint along their route Iris and Raven unleashed their magic to split the enemy forces as planned.

The maneuver was successful as the bandits began splitting up to take on the varying groups which had appeared around them and chasing them down. Their movements were coordinated and precise, as one would expect of ex military.

Iris had managed to wound one of them with her lightning tome earlier in her initial attack, and she used another blast of it to finish him off as he began running towards another group. For whatever reason that one didn't think to go after the ranged attackers which was kind of stupid on his part, but a few of his comrades did and so Iris was forced to run and keep a proper distance from them. She ran through the trees and used short controlled bursts of her lightning magic to either scare or damage a few of the enemies chasing her and her friends, before concentrating a larger burst to take down one of the bandits who was getting too close for comfort. The blast struck him, but he had some kind of armor on which dulled the effect and he ended up falling on top of her, stunned, but very much alive. He shook his head and grinned down at her as she struggled to get free.

"Well that's too bad isn't it?" He asked with a wicked grin on his face.

He took a quick look around and found that both he and Iris had gained some fairly considerable distance from the rest of the group, and so he looked back down at her and dropped his axe as he slammed his hand down on her wrist that held her tome and threw it out of reach once she dropped it. Without her tome, she couldn't attack him anymore. He locked both of her hands above her head, and because he was so much larger than she was she could do little more than try to wriggle free, but he was sitting on her stomach with his legs on either side of her hips to keep her in place so that was not really an option. Using his free hand, he groped at her chest and squeezed her breasts, hard. Iris started screaming, partially out of pain and partially out of desperation to attract attention from someone nearby to help her. The bandit looked about, but nobody was in a position to help as they were all too busy facing down his comrades. He continued to grope her chest and fondle her breasts before deciding that doing it through her clothing was no fun.

He gripped the cloth just beneath her throat and began ripping it and tearing it away from her, taking a large chunk of it away from the front of her body. With her chest exposed, Iris's face turned bright red as she began screaming even louder. The bandit smiled and continued to fondle and play with her breasts a while longer as she struggled wildly beneath him. After a few moments he leaned down and used his teeth to bite down on her breasts, at first gently, but it wasn't long before the bites became harder and more focused. Iris's screams were beginning to run dry as her throat became coarse from all of the yelling, and tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled desperately beneath him to get free.

But it was no use.

The bandit did another check behind him and found the battle still going on, and it looked like his friends were actually doing pretty well. A few had fallen, which was unfortunate, but the others were still going strong so he turned his attention back to Iris and ripped what was left of her shirt off as he started to scoot his weight down so that he had access to her pants. Iris continued to struggle but her energy was fast running out and his weight now pinned her legs down so she couldn't use them. He used his free hand to toy with her groin area for a few seconds before getting a full hand grip on the top of her pants. Iris's struggles began to ebb away as her energy ran out, and the bandit then gave one mighty yank and tore away the top of her pants. Since they were made of a softer cloth for ease of movement and to allow them to breath, they tore easily as well and Iris's groin was now left exposed as the bandit grinned down at her. Iris's tears flowed even harder as the last of her energy drained and she could fight him no more. The bandits hands fiddle and toyed with her between her legs, but as he focused on this task there was a single sharp moment of pain in his neck and shoulder before his pupils turned grey and his body went limp atop her.

Iris slowly opened her eyes and saw a blade had been shoved down through the opening of his clavicle behind his collar bone and down into his chest likely cleaving part of a lung and his heart on its way down. The hands holding the blade released the handle and grabbed the bandit's shoulders and threw him back to the ground. Standing over his dead body was Connor, who instantly grabbed the bandit's legs and hoisted them off of iris as he leaned down and helped her sit up. Iris was so tired and horrified by what that man had done that she couldn't even say anything to Connor as she buried her face in his chest and continued to weep. She'd never in her life been violated like that, and never did she think she'd have to endure it. But here, today, she had. She'd just survived and barely escaped from every woman's nightmare of being raped, and she could do nothing but cry.

Edge, in the meantime, had been helping his comrades by using his weight and his lance as a means of walling for them while they struck out quickly from behind him while he wrestled and grappled with the enemy. He had managed to keep them at bay for a time, but his energy was fast running out as well and he barely kept himself on his feet through a few of the attacks aimed at him and those around him. He finally caught a break when two of them were knocked to the ground, and he used his lance to stab each of them in the stomach beneath their armor. The wounds were deep, but not immediately fatal which allowed them to struggle and continue to try and lash out as they tried to stand. They wouldn't live long, but they were still capable of doing damage. Edge was able to stab one of them in the chest, but the man grabbed the lance and tried to pull Edge in to hack him with his lance. The blow caught the edge of his armor and glanced away, barely missing his neck as Edge fell backwards to the ground and the bandit fell in the opposite direction with the lance still embedded in his chest.

Edge scrambled to his feet as another bandit came in to attack him and tackled him to the ground. Reaching for an axe nearby that had been dropped by another bandit earlier, Edge brought the blade down across the man's throat and used his body weight to press it down until it hit the spine at the base of the skull and could go no further. The man went limp and Edge fell off of him, exhausted beyond measure as he breathed hard and tried to sit up to see how his comrades were doing. He saw Connor with his arms wrapped around Iris who looked like she had lost the clothes on her upper body. The sight alarmed Edge and gave him a brief instant of strength to allow him to stand and start limping over to them as he'd taken a few good shots to the legs which were now aching to the point where it was hard to stand. As he got closer he saw that Iris had next to no clothing on at all save for what remained of her pants around her knees and ankles as well as her shoes. Beyond that, nothing. Edge blushed as he came forward and also wrapped his arms around both Connor and Iris as Iris continued to weep, using his large body to protect her bare body from being seen by the others.

The sounds of the battle died down, but it was mostly quiet around them now.

"Anybody out there have spare clothes?!" He yelled out.

Raven was against the change in his plan but it wasn’t significant enough for him to speak up about it. While in theory having magic at the back sounded good, having at least one full on melee combatant would pull more success, none the less Raven was capable of both and the change shouldn’t put too much pressure on them. He thought perhaps putting himself in Connor in the back would have been a better choice but he didn’t exactly have the time to go over before the attack. He listened in on Raymond’s words carefully but in the end paid no heed to it. Trained or not no one was above panic, hell if someone launched an attack like this on their group it would be a panic. He shivered a bit at the thought of having to gather and retaliate against something like this. Note to self-avoid low vision in the future when needed.

With that thought Connor went off with his group. “Common Iris minus well cover Edges approach before we swing round the back.” He motioned for Edge to begin the operation as he went off to the side along with Iris. There seemed to be no signal like he wanted but that came as no surprise considering who the two in the front were, he trust Connor but he lacked any real way to get a signal off within all the rocks and trees. As Edge and his group began their approaches Raven and Iris unleashed down on the bandits center. Iris seemed to have a clear vision of what he had described. Ravens attack were different however, he wasn’t aiming at the enemy per say, but instead was firing around their sides just skimming around them as to cause them to flinch away from the center. Iris had the right idea but was a bit more aggressive than he was. The moment Edge and the others came crashing down into the middle exactly the way it was planned, this was just below being over already, now he just had to hit from his side and that was that.

A small group of bandits went after Raven and Iris side, no surprise there. Raven drew his blade and the sound how steal clashing against one of the man’s Hammer rang out. The second was coming down on him quickly while the third took off after Iris who in response had ran off away from the battle in an attempt to get away. He quickly pushed the bandit away and attempted to turn to help her before they got too far ahead but was meet only with the second bandit swinging his axe right at his neck. He had only a moment and dashed to the side the axe slamming against his plated shoulder with a thud. Raven responded by throwing his own shoulder against the man’s chest fallowed right after by a rather sloppy strike from his blade that found no real success save slicing against the man’s wrist. His axe fell to the ground and before his ally had a chance to respond the man panicked and threw his entire weight into a tackle that hit Raven like a brick. The both took off the ground for only a moment before they both flew off the rocks and went tumbling down into the trees sliding against dirt and rocks on the tumble down. They broke apart as they tumbled down Raven being flung further down until he hit the ground. He scattered up to his feet his face and armor covered in dirt, he didn’t even have time to spit out the blood that was leaving a bad taste in his mouth, as the bandit came tumbling down only to be meet with Raven slicing his blade right across the man’s throat, a twist as the man hit the floor and the blade cut across his spine. Raven had no moment of peace as the moment he turned back towards the hill he had come tumbling down he was meet with the second bandit who had fallowed after his hammer slamming right into Ravens left arm denting the plate and locking his arm into place and sending him a sliding a few inches across the dirt. He coughed out blood and desperately tried to regain his breath, the bandit came at him again his hammer swinging with the same force right at his gut. Raven responded with a downward swing at the man’s head. There weapons both hit their target the hammer slamming his chest plate leaving yet another dent, and Ravens blade cutting right down the man’s face. Raven went falling back getting a moment of air time before he hit the ground with a thud and he sound of a rip cracking. The bandit stood motionless for only a moment as blood spouted out of his face, first his knees hit the ground, then his face the blood mixing in with the dirt.

Raven could hardly breathe, and what breath he did have was just a wheeze, blood pushing up threw his longs and out threw his mouth. He did his best to get up on his feet and managed to do so to only stumble and fall forward into the dirt. His thoughts quickly went to Iris who would stand little chance if the man caught her given how mightily he himself had struggled. He clawed at the dirt he lay on with the hand he still had use of in an attempt to get up the mountain and to his allies but found no success, he was alone. He hoped she had managed to eliminate the man before he had reached her and that even without the back line the others had managed; he regretted not being able to stay in his position with all his heart. What he had feared had happened; With Iris fleeing he had no real chance of holding the line alone, and he had failed to do so. All he could do now was hope when the fighting died out It would be his friends who remained.

Cedric was the first to answer Edge's call for some clothing for Iris, and when he did Lexi seemed to be in a state of shock behind him once his shirt came off. Edge didn't know what she was going on about, but it didn't really matter at this point as he took the shirt from Cedric and turned around to help Iris dress. She was so reluctant to move from crying into Connor's chest at first that she didn't accept it, but with a little coaxing from both of them she finally stopped gripping his chest long enough to put the shirt on. Once it was on and covering the majority of her body, she still refused to stand up. The horrible feeling of having been toyed with between her legs made them weak and unwilling to cooperate with what her brain wanted them to do. Thankfully the wretched man hand't gone all the way, but having even touched her there was bad enough on its own.

Connor and Edge finally stood up with Connor's shirt being drenched in tears as he gave Edge a rather sorrowful look before looking back down to Iris. Edge gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Well... We won at least." He said quietly.

Connor shook his head.

"No we didn't. Not today." He said, leaning down and gently gripping Iris's shoulders and finally helping her to stand up.

The shirt Cedric gave was just long enough to cover her down to just passed her groin area, but left very little room to truly hide what lay beneath if her steps were more than about a foot wide. To that end, Connor told her to walk slowly as he put his arm around her shoulders and started leading her back towards the others who had finished fighting. The sounds of combat had stopped, so it seemed that they had indeed won the day, but with a casualty like this in their midst Connor could hardly call it a victory.

Edge and Connor saw Cedric's mark as he turned after shouting about everyone taking a look, and they were both surprised but despite the nature of what they'd just seen neither of them were all that tense or apprehensive about it. Edge took a closer look at Cedric, walking up to him and inspecting the mark on his back as Connor continued to support Iris who was clinging to his arm and trying to hold the shirt down with her free hand.

"Hmm..." Edge muttered as he poked at the mark on his back.

"Well it's a fairly strange thing to see, but I really don't see any reason to kill or beat you Cedric." He said, standing up and taking a step away.

"You're an odd fellow for sure, but that's not good enough to do anything like that to you. Connor's an odd one too, though slightly less genocidal with that flux thingie you have. Still, you fought alongside us and that's good enough for me." He said with a grunt of finality.

He looked back over his shoulder.

"Anything to add Connor?" He asked.

Connor shook his head.

"Good!" Edge said happily.

"Well then, I think the best thing to do right now is to tend to our wounds and set out for Quve. We can rest there for a day or so to get our strength back. A good meal, a hot bath, all that good stuff. Any objections?" He asked as everyone started to gather around.

Raven found him self standing on his feet , surrounded by walls behind him and at his sides leaving only a path forward into a maze of mossy stone. The ground he stood on was an average green grass much like you would see in any field or plain. He blinked a few times and looked around taking in his surroundings. “What the hell is all this?” he spoke out taking a few steps forward into the first branch of corridors that went off into the unknown. “A dream? I’m not dead am I?” he spoke with a sigh not liking the idea. “Guess I’ll go forward.” He went off into the maze simply wandering threw it hitting dead end after dead and turning around to try again for what felt like hours to him. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t remember what it was he was doing before he ended up in the place. He threw ideas around in his head as he wandered about but could find no answer. He was stopped to the sound of footsteps that were not his own. He turned to look at the source and was meet with a familiar face. a little girl on eleven years all smiling at him for just a moment. Before she ran off further into the maze. “Althea? W-Wait don’t run off on your own!” he quickly took off after her only seeing a glimpse of her dress fluttering away as he turned a corner. He chased and chased her until he was tiered and was forced to stop to catch his breath. His body dropped lower as he placed his hands on his knees looking to the ground. “Damn it I really need to get something lighter.”

He took another deep breath and rose back up but he did not see what he expected. The maze was gone and in its place was a wide open field with a small hill that had a tree standing on top. He headed up the hill and to the tree. The tree casted off a shadow but when he looked up at the sky there was no sun to cast light. He placed his hand on the tree and suddenly he felt tired, more so than he had ever been in his life. He shook his head a bit a let out a yawn as he turned away from the tree and sat down up against it. His eye lids felt heavy and he could feel himself drifting off to sleep. Just before his eyes closed a figure appeared before him. Raven looked up to see a face and spoke out to it. “I know you… don’t I?” his eyes fell shut and when they reopened he was laying back in the dirt blooded and hurt.

At some point he lost consciousness as he had laid there. His eye took a moment to readjust to the light and with great disagreeing from his body he pushed himself off the ground onto his feet. He picked up his sword and put it back into its sabered. Every movement made it feel like his chest was about to rip open but he gritted his teeth and moved on. He wasn’t getting back up that hill, at least no on his own. He looked around to see if there was an easier way up but could see none, so he turned so the hill was on his left side and started walking, each step felling feeling like a knife in his chest, he made it a good distance before he fell to his knees and griped his chest wincing in pain and out of breath. “Damn it, like hell I’m going to die out here.”

Raven struggled to get back onto his feet but managed while gritting his teeth and forcing himself back on his feet. He walked on and on until he lost sight of what it was he was actually trying to get to. His vision was getting blurry and every step weighed more and more heavily on him. He was stopped in his tracks as his ears were meeting to sound of footsteps. Out of the trees stepped two men, They spoke out to him but Raven could not process any of the words, his head was throbbing so badly everything was faded and fuzzy, it was if he was being spoken to by an echo from far away. They drew there weapons and that he could understand, he meet with the drawing of his own blade, in a sloppy manner. His blade felt so heavy his tomb was a no go; he doubted he could even read the words at this point. He lifted it up defensively his hands shaking from the pain, but he kept repeating the same words in his head, “I’m not going to die here.” the first man came at him swinging his own bronze sword like a madman, something raven could easily parry in his normal state, his sword meet it but Raven was easily over powered and only managed to slip away with a stumble and a cough. By right he should be dead anyone with any skill with a weapon should of ended his life in that moment, yet there he stood. He could barely make out who these people even were, not solders no. Thieves’ maybe? He thought to himself as he prepared for the next attack. He got a look at the second man as he came down upon him as he came to the realization of what it was he was fighting, the man had a pitchfork in his hand, a farmer. Another echoed voice came through and the man stopped before he could even strike. Ravens blade fell from his hand and hit the ground as the world around him faded into black, the sound of a thud, and then nothing.

Raven awoke some time later in a, rather small yet comfortable, bed. He could see fine again and his body ached all over but he could move with much more ease. He pushed himself up on the bed and inspected himself, there were bandages covering his chest and left arm, there was even a patch on the left of his forehead, most likely from when he passed out. He looked around to see a small yet cozy little cot with a fireplace blazing to keep the room warm. It was nothing fancy, far from it, and yet it felt so comforting. There was another man sitting at a table with his feet kicked up and the chair he sat in tilting back, his attire was that of a mercenary, rugged boots with a loss pair of brown pants that had leather padding protecting his joint, a dark blue long sleeve covered his chest that similarly to his pants were protected by leather padding, although this only had a single shoulder pad on the left. His weaponry consisted of a single long sword that was resting up against the wall, by the looks of the strap it went on his back. His hair was in a similar fashion to that of Raven if not shorter and a blackish color. It would be his eyes that would catch most; they were different colors the left being blue and the right being red. Raven blinked a bit as the two made eye contact. He recognized the man, a friend from back in his youth; he went by Red oddly enough.

“It’s not like you to get beat up by a bunch of farmer scrubs you know.” Red spoke out to him with a chuckle. “Very funny.” Raven responded out as he slid back into bed placing his hand over his forehead. “Where am I anyway?” “Those farmers that beat you up deed owned farm. So tell me what really happened.” Red spoke out with a raised brow. “Bandits actually ex-military I’d guess.” Raven responded with a shrug. “Small world. These farmers actually hired me to protect them from those bandits, thanks for making my job easier.” Red said with a chuckle. “Whatever smart ass.” Raven responded with his own chuckle. “So what happened to the rest of your unit? The grimsbane right?” Red asked. “Who knows, either I let them down and there dead or they left me behind to whatever fate.” “So same shit?” “Different day.” they both let out a sigh before breaking out into a soft chuckle. “I wouldn’t worry about them, found the battle field and only found bandit corpses, seems like you won.” Red spoke out with a smile. “So they left me behind hu? That was overly nice of them.” He let out a sigh. “You’re not thinking of going back to them are you? Only tyrants or fools leave allies to die.” “I don’t know yet, I really doubt there tyrants, although I suppose there fool enough.” “Sounds like a bunch of kids trying to be heroes.” “Are we so different?” Raven asked only to be meeting with a light smile. “I suppose not.” Raven placed his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner as he closed his eyes. “Even if I wanted to find them not like I know where they are any more, not the most organized group. Fact is I don’t think they’ll make it too far on their own. Spirit sure but they seem to lack in their knowledge of strategy and planning, hell I’m like this way now mostly due to a change in planning. But in a way they remind me of the people back home, me, you, and everyone else, just trying to make their mark on the world.” “Sounds to me like you’ve already made up your mind.” Raven opened his eyes and sat back up. “I suppose I have, although we need to have a serious talk if I ever find them again.” “And how do you plan on finding them exactly?” Red asked with a raised brown. “Well threw you of course.” Raven spoke with a grin. “Heard any interesting news lately?” Raven asked. “Rumors mostly, ideas that the capital is going to be attacked, not sure who would be dumb enough to do that, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” Red spoke with a shrug. “Then that’s where I’m heading.” Raven answered. “For the Grimsbane?” “And Althei, I’ll be damned if I ignored these rumors just for them to be true, and to return home to only burry my sister.” Raven spoke out as he swung his legs out of bed and stood back up stretching a bit. “Fair enough I suppose. I’ll go talk to the farmers and thank them for helping you, I’m sure they would like to know about their bandit issue being taken care of as well. Get dressed well be leaving soon then.” Red spoke out as he made his way for the door. “Oh and don’t take the bandages off for a couple of weeks, wouldn’t want you coming apart again.” he said with a chuckle as he walked out. Raven sighed and stood back up. To the capital then, it would be nice to travel with an old friend again, one he knew wouldn’t leave him behind, never had, never would.

Raven put on his clothing and armor, seeing as how actually carrying it would make a poor substitute, although he did leave his left arm unarmored showing of only a bit of his shirt and the bandage rapping completely incasing it. Have the compression on his chest was bad enough, but necessary, his arm however wasn’t going to be an issue to carry in a bag. He strapped his weapon and tomb back on his belt and stepped outside. He was blinded only for a moment as he walked out to be met by the rising sun. He must have been out for a couple of hours seeing as how he missed the whole night. He raised his right hand to block out the sun from his eyes and give them a moment to adjust. The place was just as he was told it was, a small farm probably only large enough to support a family. A silent and peaceful place, for a moment even thought of his own future, what he would do when he decided to settle down maybe he would set up his own farm and live his life as rancher family living of the land and raising children in a safe environment where they could learn from the farm. The though had hi break out in a snort and a smile as he dropped his hand down. “As if.” He spoke out softly while fighting back a smile.

Red soon made an appearance and motioned for Raven to fallow. They headed off onto a road leading away from the farm; it was odd he had grown use to avoiding paths all this time. None the less Red was livelier company than the people from grimsbane that much was certain to him. He never found it hard to keep a conversation going with the man and the chatted for most of their trip. Reminiscing about old times and catching up on the new. Similarly to Raven Red had a younger brother who much like Althei often hung around with the two unlikely Althei however Red didn’t come from and higher class family, in fact his own family was just a couple of merchants who sold whatever they could find really. He had never been rich or had all that many possessions, but there was always something he did have, something only he had, his Sword something truly its own. The handle was a blood red color with a black Dragoon wrapped around the handle. The blade itself was a pure black with runes, much like you would find in a tomb, that were written down the blade in a light blue that gave off a faint glow in the dark. They had… retrieved it, from one of the more famous black smith in the whole continent when they were younger, and he had held onto it since that day.

The day went on and would soon give to night as there trip went on rather uneventfully. They had been moving faster than Raven had expected, thinking back it used to be like this with the Grimsbane, back when it was just four of them, funny how things change. Where they had made up camp was a small hill with a single tree just overlooking the surrounding area, a place they had discovered at a younger age, it had an amazing view of the capital off in the distance, that when the sun rose it would reflect off the city in a glorious shine. It was something truly to behold, it brought memories back as he began to wonder what had happened to his old friend in the past few years, and how much his sister had grown. “I think I’ll visit the folks first.” Raven spoke out aloud as he took a seat against the single tree. Red gave him a shrug. “Just don’t get too attached you know?” Raven let out a soft sigh and closed his eye. “Ya I know, I haven’t forgotten why I left.” The night went on and soon the two found themselves asleep and awaiting the new day.

Connor, Edge and Iris all slept soundly despite the horrors of the previous day. When Iris awoke, she had found her voice again though it was still soft and reluctant to rise above a certain volume which was currently little more than a whisper. However, it was progress, and she was walking a bit taller now that she'd had some rest. Together, she walked with Connor and Edge towards the city gate as they waited for everyone else to arrive so they could begin their journey back to the capitol city. Iris was clinging to Connor a little bit, as she felt safest and the most comfortable with him after what happened, but was still talking to Edge and looking about as they all waited for the others.

Time dragged on, and one by one they all arrived as the sun peeked over the horizon and so they all took off towards the capitol. The trip itself was fairly uneventful at first, with little more than casual conversation taking place among the members of the Grimsbane who remained after their last battle. Silka had, unfortunately, been killed while she was untransformed by a cowardly bandit striking her in the back while she was focused on someone else. She had been avenged, but her loss was silently mourned as they all remembered the strength she brought to the group.

Then, as they drew within about ten miles of the capitol, Edge spotted a small group of rebels wandering about the path ahead who looked prepared to fight. Edge and the others were not exactly keen on another battle, but it didn't seem they had much choice. Still, they were rested, healed, and much better off than they had been for the previous fight. Most of these rebels looked to be nothing more than people who had picked up a weapon for the first time, so if there was a fight then it likely wouldn't last long. They drew nearer and Edge flagged down the one who looked to be in charge.

"What is the meaning of this?" Edge asked.

The man looked indignant at the question.

"You have to ask? Plegia attacks our borders and destroys our homes and farms! They have openly begun attacking every caravan and merchant group who walks these pathways, and the leadership is doing nothing about it. If they will not, then we will!" He declared.

Edge rolled his eyes.

"You are misinformed my good sir. The leadership of Ylisstol is currently engaging in diplomatic negotiations with Plegia. These bandits act of their own accord and are not to be considered the same as the Plegian people." He said.

The man scoffed and looked at Edge like he was an idiot.

"I think YOU are the one who is misinformed, but this is not the time for this anymore. We will not be stopped by the likes of you. We will march on the capitol and make our demands known and let them know that the time for negotiations are over!" He yelled.

Edge shook his head and looked back to Connor, who took a few steps forward and drew his sword.

"You're right that the time for negotiations are over, so now you face an ultimatum. Drop your weapons and return peacefully to your homes, otherwise you will leave us no choice but to make you do so by force!" Connor declared as he pointed his sword at the man.

Edge wasn't really eager for a fight, but if these men wouldn't relax and just go home then there'd be no choice but to fight. They wouldn't kill them, of course, as they were citizens of Ylisse, but they'd have to knock some sense into them if need be.

"You are the Grimsbane?" The man asked suddenly, his eyes wide.

"The Grimsbane, freedom fighters for Ylisse who are basically doing the same thing we are right now, is nothing but a gathering of children?!" He yelled, looking back to the others who were beginning to work into a frenzy.

"The Grimsbane are clearly no friends of Ylisse, and we will bring you to justice right here, right now!" The man yelled.

Connor watched as the man took a step forward and lunged at him, bashing the butt end of his sword into the man's stomach knocking the wind from him and dropping him to his knees. Connor stood tall and stepped on the man's weapon, a crude hand made lance, and dropped his sword in front of the man's face.

"I will say this once more, return to your homes peacefully or this will only get worse for you." He said.

Connor didn't see that nearby on the horizon was a gathering of cavalry, and they weren't at all happy with how the Grimsbane were treating their citizens even if they were trying to do the right thing.

Raven awoke later than he expected. When his eyes opened he was meet by the sun high in the sky, he never even realized how tired he was and how much strain he was putting on his body by just walking. Red looked over to him who had been patiently waiting under the shade of the tree. “Took your time hu?” Raven answered with a shrug and rose to his feet, he made an effort to stretch but found his left arm was incapable of being lifted above his stomach, without a sharp pain. He winced and dropped it back down. He got geared up in the same fashion as before and adjusted his belt. It was as they were about to travel on that something caught Reds eye, what looked to be two different groups were meeting on the field. He motioned for Raven to take a look and so he did. There were only six on one side and he couldn’t make out the number on the other, more of a mob if anything. “What do you make of that?” Red questioned. “Not sure I can’t exactly make out features from this far. Could be the Grimsbane, really weren’t too many of them to start with. None the less worth a look into I suppose.” Raven spoke out. The crowd wasn’t too far from where they were, far enough to have features be just a blur, but close enough to pick out how many if you cared to do so.

The two started heading down from the hill and towards the group. As they came closer it became clear to him who the six actually were, the way they dressed moved, all of it he recognized. By the looks of things it appeared as though a fight was about to break out, just what he needed right now. They were still decently high up on the hill and still too far to yell to get their attention, but it was in that moment that something else caught his eye. Calvary forming up on the horizon. Raven stopped in his tracks and looked out towards it using his good hand to help keep the sun out of his eyes. Red stopped only a few steps in front of him first looking at him then to the military gathering in the distance. “What the hell.” Red spoke out silently as he attempted to get a clearer look. It came through clearly to him what was happening, a charge, two groups on the brink of breaking out into combat and Calvary preparing to charge, the mob or Grimsbane were being seen as a threat and that was enough for him. “Quickly down the hill we have to get to the others!” Raven called out as he dropped his hands and took off running down the hill, Red keeping pace as to keep Raven from falling. Every step was agenizing like this for Raven, his body screamed at him to stop and rest, but he continued on stumbling every couple of steps. When they drew closer Raven screamed out to the crowd with what energy he could muster, “Edge, Move! Get to cover!” His voice was heavy and clearly tiered, it was also clear of the bandages covering his left arm his left of his forehead, and it didn’t really mix with the rest of his outfit. Raven and Red were still a good pace behind the group and if the charge was already going by that time they would never be able to make it to cover, at least in Ravens current condition, the other however had a chance. Even so he never looked back as he ran down the hill with all his energy, he knew what was coming, he just didn’t know when.

Raymond woke up slowly on the bed he'd fallen asleep on. It was the bed he'd paid for at the guild. He sat up, looked over to the window, and sighed. Still fairly dark out. Oh well. Now that he was awake, he wouldn't be getting back to sleep any time soon. He turned in the bed, throwing his legs over the side. He stood up, and stretched his body, hearing his various joints pop and groan. He stripped off the clothes he'd worn that night, and grabbed his other set. He stepped into the plain leather pants and slipped on a wool shirt, then walked over to the stand his armor was on.

The boots went on first, extending up to his mid-shin. Then the greaves over his shins. He slid into the hard leather cuirass, and belted his weapon and scabbard to his hip. The black leather gloves completed his armor. Satisfied, he gathered up what few possessions he had, put them into a shoulder bag, and went to get some food. Accomplishing this, he left the guild hall, heading for the northern gate. When Silka didn't show up, he spared a quick prayer for her soul, and moved on. He couldn't do anything to bring her back, and the group left as the sun finally began to rise.

They were about ten miles from the capitol, the sun at their back, when they ran into a group of people that Raymond could only describe as rebels. When Edge's attempts at diplomacy failed, and the argument began to turn violent, Raymond realized that the only way they could solve this argument was through force of arms. He drew his blade, a new cloth lining inside of the scabbard muting the draw of his weapon.

---

Lexi woke up bright and early, though outside, the sun had yet to rise. She looked over to the book laid on the night table, and sighed. "Not once did I manage to get you to work." She muttered. "Didn't think I would, but it was worth a shot." Slowly, she sat up in the bed, and threw her legs over the side. She opened her door, grabbed the neatly folded clothes that the nuns had washed for her, closed it again, and dressed for the day. Pants, shirt, and work-boots. The medallion never left her neck. After dressing, she gathered up her few smaller possessions, and put them into a satchel that she hung over her shoulder. Then, she grabbed her staves and the book and left her room.

She was almost out of the building when she realized that she should probably wake up Cedric. She retraced her steps, and went to his door, knocking on it. "Cedric, wake up!" She called. "It's morning." She waited for him to emerge, and then they headed out for the north gate.

They'd walked almost all day when they were finally near the capitol. However, they ran into a small group of citizens who made it very clear that they didn't like how the Plegians could raid their land without being stopped. Words turned to fists quickly, and Lexi knew that her staves would be needed very soon.

"Cedric, wake up! It's morning."
At first, Cedric's brain failed to process Lexi's voice, but it did know that it had woken him up. In his semi-asleep state, he rolled out of bed, rolling the quilt with him, and hit the floor with a muffled thud. The quilt absorbed most of the impact, but it still woke Cedric up. Once he actually came to his senses, he found himself lying on the floor, wrapped in his quilt. Needless to say, he was rather confused. Nevertheless, he unravelled himself, dressed, slung his satchel over his shoulder and went over to his door and opened it. He was surprised to find Lexi waiting outside, but quickly remembered that he had asked her to wake him up.

After breakfasting, Cedric and Lexi headed out towards the north gate, where the remainder of the Grimsbane were waiting. Cedric was aware of Silka's fate, but Raven had been confirmed neither dead nor alive. The loss of Raven could well hit the Grimsbane hard, as without a tactician, they would be little more than a disorganised rabble. Perhaps Cedric could stand in until Raven returned. If he returned.

Cedric was less than pleased when he heard that they were off Ylisstol to investigate rumours of an attack. Ylisstol was miles away, and the last thing Cedric needed was even more walking. Besides, what could a group the size of the Grimsbane do against an attack that threatened the capital? They didn't even know who would be attacking. It couldn't be either of Ylisse's neighbours, as they would have to push past the border and all the way to Ylisstol, and ,without a miracle, that would take anywhere between weeks and months. The attack would have to come from inside Ylisse if it was to be launched any time soon.

By the time they came to a halt, Cedric's feet felt like irons and his thighs like jelly. To make matters worse, they were still at least ten miles away from Ylisstol. How much easier it would have been if they just had horses or a caravan. Cedric noticed a group of peasants brandishing arms, many of which were no more than farming tools. So this was the attack on Ylisstol?! A mob of irate yokels with pointy sticks?! Edge and Connor's failed attempts to calm the leader ended with Connor knocking the man to the ground and threatening him at swordpoint. Cedric was rather more sympathetic, since the peasants were losing their livelihoods to the bandits, while the Grimsbane were making their's from the bandits. Cedric was also aware of the threat that Plegia posed; his sheltered life hadn't protected him from the anti-Ylisse sentiment that blossomed amongst the populace.

“Edge, Move! Get to cover!”
Cedric swore that he recognised that voice... He looked to its source, and saw Raven hurrying towards them alongside another man. However, Cedric's happiness was short-lived, and ended when he noticed a cavalry regiment charging towards them. They wore Ylissean armour, and must have assumed that the Grimsbane were bandits. Killing their opponents was out of the question, which meant Cedric would have to take a considerable deal more care with the casting of his magic. He would also need cover, since he wouldn't stand much chance against a cavalier in close combat. What a fine situation they had worked themselves into.

Edge and Connor heard Raven's shout, and though they were relieved to see him they had no idea what he was talking about. Taking a quick look out to where he had been pointing to and saw the cavalry beginning to descend upon their position. Upon seeing the colors they represented, he knew that they were Ylissian soldiers and given the history of the way the Exalt ran things he didn't have much fear of the situation. Edge relaxed his posture and ordered Connor to do the same as the rebels turned and looked at the cavalry as well.

"Well this should get interesting." Edge said over to Connor.

Connor shot him a glare.

"Interesting, Edge? Really?" He asked.

Connor turned back towards the cavalry and though his stance was neutral, his sword was at the ready just in case. Connor had no fear of horseback units regardless of how skilled they were. While he was no expert in horseback combat, he knew how to stay away from them and their weapons all the same.

Edge turned to the others in the group and raised a hand.

"Do not panic and don't move! They're Ylissian cavalry, and they don't attack randomly like bandits do. They will try to understand the situation first, so hold your ground and stay quiet." He ordered.

He turned in time to see the one in charge ride in to within about fifteen feet of Connor's position as he glared down at them.

A falcon let out a cry as it glided above the landscape. The creature shifted its gaze back and forth between the uneven mob of people below, and the much more structured grouping of its master and his troop. The creature felt happiness that it had seen the mob but little else. Although it could not comprehend the situation of the mob fighting amongst itself, it did know it would be getting rewarding for spotting the group. It let out a second cry to make sure its master heard.

----------

“The’re fighting each other?” Rom commented to the two on horseback nearest to him. Rem didn’t respond, obviously deep in thought at the moment. Leanne simply shrugged and donned her helmet.

The troop was spread out in a rough line at the top of the short ridge. When they had heard the cry of Rom’s falcon, they had rushed quickly up the side opposite the now infighting mob. The high ground was very important, every one of them knew that. Rem did not even have to issue the command.

“I’m going down there.” Rem responded after a few short moments of silent reasoning. Leanne and Rem readied their horses. “Alone.” he added, not having to look to see what his two second in command were doing. “This is an order.” The two grudgingly nodded. “Rom, if they attack, signal the charge. Leanne, be at the head.” As Rem finished he led his horse down the hill toward the mob.

--------

By the time Rem arrived close enough to the mob to converse, most of them had been alerted to the cavalry's position on the hill. Subsequently, they had taken a pause in their fighting to focus on the more unnerving threat. Rem saw and heard a particular member of the mob, a brown haired man equipped with a lance, call out to the rest and identify their troop as Ylissian cavalry. Rem rode up to address the mob, keeping a stern look on his face. He kept his sword in its sheath.

“Under the authority of the Ylissian military, I Remus Nerova, commander of RH Troop eight request that you all lay down your arms and disperse. If you comply peacefully, I personally promise that no harm will come to you.” Rem shifted his gaze back and forth to different members of the mob, trying to make the address as personal as possible to as many as he could within the group. “If you choose to come peacefully, I and my troop will escort you back to your homes and will help address your outstanding concerns in a fair and diplomatic manner.” He finished delivering the speech and ultimatum that he had been trained to give. Though as always, he left out the part about them not complying. He personally felt the verbal threat was too much.

---------

“Is it working?” One of the troop members asked from a little further back from Rom and Leanne.

“Well, I don’t see them attacking so i-” Another had piped up but was quickly silenced by a glare backwards from the helmeted Leanne. Rem kept his sight firmly fixed on his brother and the situation surrounding him. His hand was tightly balled in a fist, ready to thrust into the air and signal the charge down the ridge.

----------

High in the sky Rom’s falcon looked down on the two groups and the area surrounding them. It knew enough to realize that if it missed another group that it would not be getting its reward. So it worked diligently, scanning the area surrounding the potential battlefield for anything that warranted another cry. However, it’s full attention was fixed on the ground and not on the air surrounding it. It did not see the larger bird bearing down on it from above.

As it was scanning a forest in the distance away from the small valley, it spotted a metallic glint amongst the trees. Its eyes immediately dilated and focused in on the forest, trying to catch a glimpse in between the foliage of what had caused the reflection. Before it could spot anything, a large force hit its neck and a silent cry escaped it’s open beak as its spine was pierced by the sharp talons of the larger bird.