Hunting Death- Ambushed
#21 of Hunting Death
Ambushed
Whether or not they fully understood the gravity of my condition I am not entirely sure. However, I am not so skilled as to make the fact that I am feeling a bit under the weather hidden from the lot of them. And of course, this makes Rophan have the all the more annoying as he does everything he can to just dote on me. But I am determined to carry my own weight and absolutely refuse his suggestion that we try and get a sort of stretcher or cart for me to ride in. I'm not here to be given the easy way out and I know for a fact I die with a blade to my heart, not an illness. And much to my own shame, I am so out of it and unaware of my surroundings that it's actually the bat that first notices that we are being surrounded. There is at least a dozen or two of these humans, all well enough armed. They did well to conceal themselves into the surroundings, so that's why it took Kevin so long to notice that they were there. But at the same time I can't help but feel that if I was still at my normal self that I would have been able to feel them as we were approaching.
We form a sort of defensive ring around each other, though Rophan seems more inclined to be hiding than actually trying to help us in any meaningful way. I notice that one of the humans is familiar, it's the same one that I had kept from finding what he was looking for. Apparently he found it anyway.
"If it isn't the little princess," the human says before addressing the other three of us. "Hand over the girl and that fancy little weapon of yours and we'll be sure to leave you with nothing more unfortunate than some slightly lighter pockets."
"I will not," I say defiantly back at them, "because they're mine. Anaelin!" I call out for my scythe to come out but instead I feel a bit dizzy, though it does glow.
"Your loss. Get 'em. Remember, the girl stays alive."
Ceirla readies her bow and fires it off at one of them, winging them in the shoulder, which is fairly impressive considering how she's blind and all. I take a deep breath and try to summon out Anaelin again. This time it does work and my scythe comes out, though leaving me extremely dizzy in the process. It is certainly strange. I've never had problems with summoning Anaelin in the past, no matter how exhausted I was at the time. I whip Anaelin out at the nearest person and do manage to clip them with the blade, but they aren't quite out yet, though. I stagger a moment and try to recover myself as they all start closing it a bit. In an attempt to keep them away I wave my head around and try and swing Anaelin in a wide arc in front of us. Thankfully none of them want to get close enough to that weapon to just allow themselves to be hit, but at the same time it isn't really doing much for our situation. Ceirla and Hashal decide to turn around and face off against the ones that I can't easily reach due to the cord and not being able to easily wrap that around them. Hashal even goes so far as to rush out a bit with a staff in hand while Ceirla readies to fire off another shot. This one she hits square in the chest.
If only I was not in this condition I might have been able to do a lot more to help us in this situation. Though I know that I myself will be fine in this battle since none of these bandits triggered my blood. That doesn't change the fact that it is quite possible that they leave me without my Anaelin and without Mine. And that cannot be allowed. Unfortunately for the time being all I can really manage to do is keep the ones on my side at bay. And given how sloppy I am at throwing my scythe around it's only a matter of time before they fully close the distance anyway. Hashal takes a sword to the leg as he fails to deflect it completely with his staff. He pushes them away and limps back to the rest of us, Ceirla giving him some room to do so by focusing her fire around him. I look over with a bit of concern, since it is quite possible that he could die today. Rophan, Ceirla and I are all fine. This isn't where I die and those two have a part to play in it. Hashal is under no such guarantee. But apparently whatever that curse he's under is, it gives him a slightly regeneration effect even in his normal, human form. Though still bleeding, I can see it starting to close bit by bit. I'm brought back to what I'm doing by someone shooting an arrow near me. I focus and swing my scythe back around, closing its range a bit so I can have a bit more control over the thing. Though the arrow does bring to mind another issue that I hadn't even thought about dealing with. What if that arrow had hit me? I don't die from an arrow so it wouldn't kill me, but it would cause me to bleed. And my blood doesn't look like theirs. How would they react to seeing my silver blood? Though would it even still be silver right now if my magic is as depleted as I suspect?
"Running a bit low on arrows!" Ceirla shouts over the others. "So if we're going to do something about all this, we better start trying to put it into motion now rather than later."
And just as I'm trying to figure out what all I can do about the situation I see a flash of lightning strike the ground nearby, nearly deafening me in the process. I look up at the cloudless sky in confusion. I mean, a skilled mage can cast such a thing, but none of these humans have shown any sign of having any magical talent, nor have any of my companions, outside of the connection with the bat. And though I probably could pull it off myself, I am not in any condition to do so right now. So the question is where did that lightning come from? Looking around for the source I can see a couple of individuals that are off to the side, ones that hadn't been there before. One of them, what looks to be a goblin based on the somewhat short stature and green skin is running towards us. The other, a human wearing long robes, is weaving an intricate series of signs using his hands. So that's where the lightning came from. Now it's just a question of are they on the same side as these bandits or on ours. But, thankfully, it's an answer quickly gained as not only does the goblin seem to be trying to interpose himself between the ones that were in front of me, but a lot of the humans are regarding him with not only disdain but also trying to cut him off from us, a task still made a bit difficult with my Anaelin still in play.
"Surrender now and I might let you live," the goblin orders the bandits.
Not apparently all that intimidated with him they decide to rush at him. Unfortunately with him now standing as a barrier between us and some of them I can no longer use Anaelin without risk of hitting him. And so I simply pull it back to me and turn towards the other two slightly. I don't know if it's safe to turn my back on them since it is entirely possible this is a ploy to make us drop our guard, but if that were the case we'd be pretty screwed anyway so what would be the point. Instead, I focus on at least trying to save the one person I know is not necessarily safe. I felt something when I saw the two new people, but I can't exactly be sure if it was my blood burning or simply dizziness from turning my head so quickly in my current condition. And since it'll only burn once it is entirely possible that they may be mine and I'll just never know. Might as well assume they are until I can figure out otherwise. Course the defense wasn't really necessary as lightning strikes the ground in front of us again, but this time a wall of fire begins to erupt from it, coiling around and encircling all the bandits on that area.
Feeling frustrated at how helpless I've been during the fight but knowing that there's nothing I can really do about the situation I return Anaelin to its sealed state and sit down, panting heavily from the exertion. Rophan gets out of his hiding spot as the two newcomers apparently make short work of the rest of the bandits. Once they're all defeated the mage in the distance shoots up a signal flare and a bunch more humans begin to walk into the area as well. The goblin moves up towards us while putting away his sword. Rophan makes a step to try and stand in my defense, which is somewhat laughable to say the least but I'm not in any position to really argue. The goblin is actually somewhat short compared to most of the rest of the people I'm travelling. That isn't to say that he isn't noticeable taller than I am, but he's short enough that he doesn't even come up to the arm pits of Rophan. And as with all goblins his skin is a dull green, though how much is somewhat difficult to discern given how much of his body is being covered by steel plate. His weapon of choice seems to be what would be a longsword for anyone else but with him seems a bit closer to a greatsword.
"Thanks to you guys being really good bait for us, Gregory and I have earned enough to not have to worry at all about money for almost half a year if you'll believe it. Name's Simon, by the way. Simon Yar. And my somewhat shy companion over there is called Gregory Funsae."