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After having killed the fighter who struck down Canter, Cy looks back towards the battle as he jogs toward the camp to pick up his bow. He shouts across to the Priestess as he moves back in her direction (and the direction of the fleeing enemies) "Canter is down! Emma, help him, I'll tend to the battle!" As he runs past Canter's body toward the boulders and the retreating enemies, he readies an arrow in his bow to cover the retreat.

"Going somewhere?" Emma asks the slowly backpedaling enemy fighter, her confidence soaring, "I thought you said Anhur wouldn't be able to save me once you got to me?" She paces Ben's steps as he tries to backpedal away from her, her eyes flashing with righteous wrath. "Well, I'm still here. There's nothing between you and me. What's stopping you, Ben? Can't you fight your own battles? Or do you need your beastly friend by your side?"

Then Emma hears Cy's words calling across the battlefield from the other side of the boulders. Suddenly her entire outlook on the situation changes. Though she has no fear of death, as it could only be Anhur's will, others who are good need not also perish in her just pursuits. She casts a concerned glance at Edryd, who shakes his head momentarily, as though waking from weeks of sleepwalking. As his gaze falls on Canter, his frame drawn up to his full height of 6 feet, 8 inches, his jet black hair flowing in gusts about his back and waist, two tears can be seen winding down his cheeks, leaving his emerald eyes sadly shining in the battlefield haze. Feeling her eyes upon him, the Paladin looks up and meets her gaze.

It was time to get this battlefield under control, Edryd thinks. He whispers a quick prayer to Anhur for wisdom, and turns, lunging at Ben, asking Emma, "Please help Canter! Your skill far surpasses mine in the Ritual of Healing!" Ben, however, sees this change of guard and takes advantage of it. With a forceful jab, he shoves his blade forward, piercing deep into Edryd's skin. (6 hp damage) Edryd lets out a scream of pain, doubling over.

He then turns his head and yells to Crayne and Storm, motioning lethargically at the stumbling archer on the retreat. "Secure him! We don't know how long your spell will last and we need to move from this place to one more secure. They look to organized to give up now!" He then squints in pain and spits out a mouthful of blood.

Meanwhile, still reeling from his own battle, Hannibal could do nothing but stand there, his breathing still heavy from the melee, and stare. The fighter that lay dead at his feet was quite different in appearance than he had thought just moments earlier. This man was not Bernigan! Hannibal's knees buckle under him at the sick feeling that had creeps into his stomach. Would these horrors never end!

Hannibal runs over the images again and again in his mind...Pushing the dead fighter over on his face...the quick moment to inspect the back of his neck...Nothing. Despite the excitement of the emerging victory, Hannibal carries with him an empty, hollow look in his face and seems to move like a zombie.

Storm begins to calm a little, thinking that the battle is basically over. He looks around; he sees Hannibal having just finished with his opponent, he sees Emma rushing toward Canter, and then he sees Edryd facing off against the backpedaling Ben. He sees him say something as he kneels on the ground. Throwing a quick glance toward the friends close to him, he sheathes his two swords runs out toward Edryd.

Knowing that time could be short for Edryd, too, Storm thinks quickly. When he's in range, he takes two daggers from his belt and throws them at Ben, trying to help Edryd overcome his foe. The daggers fly through the night air, whizzing past Ben, one too wide and one too high. Ben looks up from the face of Edryd at his feet, his passion-filled eyes meeting with Storm's.

Crayne, relieved at seeing the attackers retreat looks at his fallen friend Canter, "Please if any of you can do anything it would be much appreciated." He calls toward Emma as she turns and sprints through the boulders toward Canter. "This is one field which I have very little knowledge. I think however, that stopping the bleeding would be the first priority."

Seeing Emma going to attend Canter with Hannibal in tow, Crayne smiles in a relieved fashion and then turns on his newly acquired friend. Crayne sees Storm standing near feeling a lot safer with his presence. Crayne smiles at Daran in a warm fashion, "Now friend don't worry for I and my friends will not let any harm come to you. First however, you must tell me who the general is for we can't protect you if we don't know who we are trying to protect you against. Also, if you have any knowledge as to how the general knows about us it would also be kindly appreciated. I tell you what why don't you drop your weapon and we can have a more friendlier chat." Crayne smiles at the man and taps him on the back.

Daran smiles back at Crayne as if he'd known the mage for years. He plants his sword firmly in the ground, and turns to face him. "Why, I mean General Wade, of course! The royal Duke of Sinele. He told me it was of the utmost importance that I stop you." Daran lets out a chuckle and smiles widely. "Had I just told him what a nice fellow you are, Crayne, I'm sure I could have convinced him otherwise!" Then his expressions changes: "I wonder why I didn't tell him about you?" A crackle of thunder sounds in the distant sky.

(44.0)

Of the retreating troops, two now disappear into the night over a far hill (one of the fighters--not Ben--and one of the archers). The stumbling archer, his hamstrings severely bruised if not broken, continues to struggle away very slowly.

Ben smiles down upon Edryd's limping body, and spits on the Paladin's head. "You and your blind faith in Anhur. You don't know what a REAL warrior looks like! Well, you'll never forget my face, will you, Edryd?" Satisfied he'd gotten in the last word, Ben begins to backpedal again.

Edryd looks up, the tears for Canter mixing with blood and dirt. The image of the retreating villan burning into his eyes. But moving into that image he sees Storm, dagger in hand, taking a running leap. The surprisingly agile dwarf's body swoops through the air. He lands with an audible thud! on Ben's back, driving the dagger into the fighter. Ben instantly turns his head with the impact, causing the blade to enter the back of his shoulder, not his heart, as Storm had intended. But between the dagger and Storm's momentum, it was enough to force Ben down to the ground, and to distract him from Edryd.

Cy, now standing near Crayne and Daran, hears Edryd's instructions to secure the retreating men. He cannot see two of them, but he can barely make out the frame of the stumbling archer, crawling up a hill. A flash of lightening in the distance illuminates the area for a moment, giving Cy a clear field of view. He runs out toward the archer, his bow ready, cocked at his chin. Reaching the archer, he kicks away the enemy's short sword and bow, forcing him to roll over on his back along the face of the hill. Cy points the arrow directly at the man's head. "Surrender and come with me."

"But I can't..." the archer mumbles.

Realizing that the archer cannot walk by himself, Cy kneels down in front of him, lowers his bow, and pushes him hard across the face. The archer groans with the impact, but then his head tilts back, his eyes closed. Cy checks his pulse, he was still alive. Then Cy slings his bow over his back and with his strong arms scoops up the smaller, lighter archer and begins to carry him back toward the battlefield, checking over his shoulder to make sure that the others don't return.

Emma and Hannibal soon reach Canter. "Hannibal, help me turn him over," Emma asks the thief. Hannibal gladly helps, grabbing Canter's shoulders and carefully turning his body over. Many wounds can be seen, and his blood-soaked shirt is torn nearly to pieces.

Thunder crashes again. "The rain isn't that far off," Hannibal says, giving the darkened sky a quick glance. He can see no stars.

Emma hardly hears him. She places her hands on Canter's chest and closes her eyes. Calling on her god for support, she asks him for his power of healing. Hannibal's eyes grow wider as he sees her hands begin to glow a soft, pale green. After a moment, she removes her hands slowly and opens her eyes. She looks down at Canter. Hannibal holds the fighters head between his hands. Suddenly, Canter takes in a deep breath, a loud gulp of air. His eyes open widely. He smiles slightly as his first sight is Emma's face leaning over him, her hair falling over her shoulders.

Crayne continues to question his new "friend," Daran. "But Daran, how did Baron Wade--"

"General Wade, Crayne."

"--General Wade--"

"Well, actually, he's both..."

Crayne inhales deeply, growing frustrated. "Fine. How did Wade know where we were?"

Daran's face grows blank. He shrugs his shoulders and raises his empty hands. "Gosh, Craynie, I don't know. He just told me to stop you outside Parton. He didn't tell me how he knew you'd be here. I'm sorry."

Crayne pats Daran on the shoulder with one hand, and brings the other to his mouth, thinking. He paces in a small circle, considering what to do with Daran. What to do with Canter, with Edryd, and the carnage all around them.

1. HP Status:

Crayne: 7, Canter: 3, Cy: 15, Storm: 6, Emma: 8, Hannibal: 9, Edryd: 1

2. Currently, Crayne stands on the far side of the boulders with Daran. Cy is returning toward Crayne's position from the hills on the far side of the boulders, the knocked-out crippled archer in his arms. Canter is healed, though far from feeling perfect. He, Emma, and Hannibal are on the side of the boulders closer to the campfire. Edryd is on the ground a few yards south of Crayne and Daran, not dead, but not doing well, either. Storm is on top of Ben, whom he knocked to the ground.

3. WHAT NEXT? What will you do with Daran and the archer? What about Edryd's newfound perilous condition? What about Ben? Will you regroup at the camp and stay there for the night, or pack up and try to find another, safer spot (under cover from the rain)?

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