Nemaisare
Warrior Hunter
The farther you are from the edge of reality, the closer you are to my world.
Posts: 157
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Post by Nemaisare on May 30, 2008 18:19:45 GMT -5
Matt was watching, still tense and wary, as Charity came up beside him, though he relaxed ever so slightly once she reached the shelter of the undergrowth. In reality, it wasn't much cover if creatures had a good sense of smell, but it was the best that could be had at the moment, unless the woman felt like climbing the tree behind them. Matt shivered and shook his head, then squeezed his hand around the hidden cat's head pendant at a sudden pain, only to feel claws unsheathe at the ends of his fingers. In his worry, he'd gone for the best defense he could think of, but, hurt as he was, it wouldn't be of any help.
The youth gasped as the binding reformed around him once he replaced the string around his neck. Then he noticed that Charity was looking at him, she seemed surprised and distracted. He frowned at cocked his head, then offered her an impish grin when he realised she must have seen his little lapse in judgement, but returned his own watchful gaze to their surroundings when she did. He also noted the way her hand went to her knife and wondered if that made it quicker to draw. Was she planning on fighting like Raban and Chestnut were? But the strange man had told them to hide, not to fight. He shrugged, she could do as she wished, he needn't bother himself with worry, she could take care of herself.
As could the strange, now not-man. Matt stared at him wide-eyed, then grinned his sharp approval. Beast he was and beast were they, it was better to fight as you ought to than as a weak human, if you were not human in the first place. He knew humans were not so weak as that, mostly because they could think more clearly, but compared with the inherit strength most predators had, humans were very, very weak.
And then, there was no more time for such thinking, because the creatures he'd been scenting were suddenly among them and, he frowned... They seemed the same as Raban, why did he fight them, then? Perhaps.... No, Matt did not know, nor could he think of a reason, but as he watched the fight and recognized the danger, he wished dearly that he could join in to be safer. Besides which, tere was that old, instant dislike that grew in him upon seeing the ragged lycans and he bared his teeth in a silent snarl, letting the breath hiss gently from between his teeth. Too low a sound to be heard above the fighting.
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Post by Enchant on Jun 1, 2008 12:12:54 GMT -5
The antagonists came out of the darkness with agility and strength. Raban and Chestnut engaged in battle instantly, while Charity and Matt still crouched behind the bushes. The sounds of of howls and growls could only be heard over the sounds of flesh ripping and bones breaking. Charity now realized that her blade was no match for these wolf like shape shifters. She glanced at Matt, who obviously came to the same conclusion.
Turning back and watching the battle before them, she noticed that these predators were of the same breed as Raban. They almost seem to be focusing on him. She thought about sitting and waiting it out, but she also knew that there was no way that Raban and Chestnut would be able to defeat them all. It bothered her that she even care. Was it feelings of a developing friendship or was it self preservation? Once the pack was done with Raban, perhaps they would want dessert. Look for the next available prey? I am no ones dessert!
She reached down and slid her side arm from its holster. She looked over at Matt, who seemed to be struggling with the same notion. With a smirk, she held up her gun, "The best defense is a good offense." She then jumped out of the bushes, pistol aimed for the closest beast.
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Harbinger
Warrior Hunter
Death Is Only The Beginning
Posts: 63
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Post by Harbinger on Jun 1, 2008 14:43:27 GMT -5
He roared as he threw one aside for it to race back at him. He lunged in return, snarling savagely. He understood their vicious growls and so did Chestnut. They were not growls of welcome, but of hatred and envy. Raban could change at will. They could not.
Definitely like old times! Chestnut screamed inside his head and Raban winced. "Must you shout so loud?" he muttered, forgetting to speak in mind as he dealt with the grey black werewolf, tearing his throat from its frame.
He heard a voice and spun. He shook his head, "No! They'll afflict you!" and as if to prove a point once turned and lunged at Charity. Raban roared and lunged in her defence. The two tumbled about precariously for a while before Raban delivered a crushing blow to its airway.
The surrounded trees suddenly glowed as Chestnut's mane and tail turned to burning flames that didn't seem to affect her but the wolves attacked her. They whimpered as flames caught their own unprotected fur.
Chestnut reached to Charity's mind knowing Raban couldn't defend against so many, let alone herself in this state.
Charity? It's Chestnut. I hope you have silver bullets. That or a silver... Quick! Find Raban's sword! It's silver! the horse sent as she reared, hoping Charity understood her.
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Nemaisare
Warrior Hunter
The farther you are from the edge of reality, the closer you are to my world.
Posts: 157
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Post by Nemaisare on Jun 1, 2008 18:39:24 GMT -5
Well, she was brave... But then, Matt had already guessed that, nor was it really surprising. What was surprising was her jumping out like that and then the horse going all firey. The youth could only stare in what would have been comical disbelief were they in almost any other situation. Huh, and he had been sitting on that thing for most of the day! He shivered at the thought, then turned his attention back to the fight, crouching lower and shrinking back against the tree as the snarling and growling only seemed to get louder.
He didn't like this, didn't like it one little bit, but here he was, watching a horse (with fire for its mane and tail), his human friend and a strange beast-man fighting against other strange creatures while he was stuck here. It was a bad situation to be in, but his coices were limited to fight and probably get very badly hurt, or not fight, and, being practical, he chose not to fight. Well, that would have been his choice had a snarling visage not suddenly pflitted past his hiding place in an attempt to sneek up on Charity. He didn't like to, but if the beast turned around it would see him anyway, it probably already knew where he was and just wanted to get rid of the more troublesome prey first.
Matt bared his teeth and erupted with a muffled, choking snarly hiss that was his best effort at a growl just then and launched himself through the bushes with his knife hand outstretched and his eyes angry. Then he had plunged the knife between the creature's ribs so that it yelped and spun to snap at him until he lost hold of the hilt in trying to avoid the teeth, and then they were both rolling about on the ground, Matt making squeaking gasps for air and the wolf snarling whimpers of a pain-fed rage. He struggled for the knife while the beast simply tried to get some hold on him with his teeth, then, out of sheer annoyance and frustration with himself and the whole situation, Matt butted the creature in the jaw, effectively snapping its head back and winning him enough time to grab the knife hilt and jerk it free then slash it down the beast's belly with a vindictive rage shining clearly from his eyes.
Then, of course, he was lying on the ground, the heavy carcass on top of him, worn out, in plain sight and only one thought going through his mind. Stupid...
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Post by Enchant on Jun 2, 2008 22:07:23 GMT -5
Determined and with pistol aimed, she charged at the large hairy beast. Lasers shot out hitting the beast several times in the chest and once in its muscular leg. The beast stopped for a moment and looked down at the wombs, then slowly raised its eyes to hers and bared its very large teeth. Her victorious satisfaction died quickly when she saw that the beast was rapidly regenerating. dangit!
Glancing down at her pistol in frustration, she quickly holstered it and unsheathed her blades. As she was about to charge the beast with blades in both hands, sounds of a growl came directly behind her. She instinctively bent down and turn around. It was a trick taught by the military. While the attacker was aiming high, she would turn low and attack upward. Many soldiers died from this technique.
Instinctively thrusting her blade up, she realized that the beast had already fallen back. Her young companion had taken the offensive and attacked him from behind. Just as she was about to assist him, a strange feeling came over her. Charity! Searching around, she couldn't place the voice. For a slight moment, she thought she had finally lost it when it happened again. It's Chestnut. I hope you have silver bullets. That or a silver... Quick! Find Raban's sword! It's silver!
She glanced over the shoulder of the beast now almost upon her and saw that Raban wasn't wearing his gear.He must have taken it off before changing. As the beast lunged at her, she stepped aside and began to run toward the bushes that earlier concealed Raban and his steed. She could practically feel the beast breathing on the back of her neck. She jumped into the bushes and began to search the area, all the while trying to avoid the beast. Where the hell is it?!?! Frantically, she ran low amoungst the brush tying to find the sword and avoid being sliced and diced by swinging claws.
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Harbinger
Warrior Hunter
Death Is Only The Beginning
Posts: 63
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Post by Harbinger on Jun 3, 2008 10:01:10 GMT -5
Raban was tiring and sooner than he realised. he had not fought so many in one sitting. His snarls and grunts were louder over the rest but then, the wolf growls, roars and snarls were all that could be heard. One flew acorss him and he looked at Chestnut who just snorted at him before sending another into a tree. Raban roared, his fur in ruins as he continued to bite and generally maul.
He saw Charity scrabbling about for something but couldn't tell what yet. He didn't exactly have the time to figure it out for himself. He scrapped with two far younger werewolves who were smaller in a result but were using group tactic that lionesses used on the proverbial Zebra or Gnu. It was something Raban recognised and waited for them to lunge before ducking out of the way, causing them to collide and then scrabble at each other in their fury. Werewolves were a pain and a menace to themselves.
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Nemaisare
Warrior Hunter
The farther you are from the edge of reality, the closer you are to my world.
Posts: 157
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Post by Nemaisare on Jun 3, 2008 16:10:55 GMT -5
Suddenly, the weight jerked on top of him and Matt tensed as he thought the beast was coming back alive, but it wasn't that. No, he realised a moment later, it was worse. One of the others had decided to ignore the fighting for now and was starting to drag the beast off of Matt, he shifted desperately, then hissed as the weight fell onto his hurt leg and threw himself backwards to get away from the pain. His sudden appearance certainly startled the beast, for it must have thought him dead as well.
It advanced on him, snarling and crouched low in the laziest stalking crouch he'd ever seen while he kept hauling himself backwards, teeth bared in answer and dagger held tight. Of course it wasn't enough, since he was obviously much weaker than the werewolf and not in any state to be fending it of. But then his backward progress was halted as he collided with something warm and moving, its soft fur prickly against his bare back. Matt froze in no small fear, for he hadn't even heard the beast come up behind him, but then his surprise overtook his fright, because the werewolf suddenly halted its advance and turned away, as if seeking easier prey.
Then, as he sat, still frozen in a futile attempt to hide in plain sight, he felt a gentle breath warm his neck and the brush of whiskers. A scent came to him, over that of the overpowering werewolves' and he turned around as swiftly as he could to come face to face with the one he had been hoping to meet on these lands. Their eyes met only briefly, scarlet red and gold-flecked brown, then the great cat looked past him to the battle raging in the small clearing and, in a surge of fluid strength that brought an answering envy from Matt, she bounded past him and engaged the nearest werewolf in battle. Voicing such a scream of rage as she did so that the youth felt the hair rise on the back of his neck in recognition. The cat moved too quickly for the other beasts to touch her, though her sharp claws scored faces and flanks and backs again and again as she joined in the fight.
Matt watched, smiling stupidly, without any more energy or thought to put towards protecting himself. Rasha... Safe now. Mother fights well.
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Post by Enchant on Jun 4, 2008 15:47:46 GMT -5
The sounds of branches snapping and the feeling of twigs ricocheting at her, made Charity speed up her search. Finally, she saw a small reflection of light bouncing off something metallic. Finally! She hurried over and grabbed the sword. Gripping the handle and unsheathing it, she turned around to meet the charging beast. However, before she could raise the sword, the beast had already swung its arm violently, causing the back of its hand to slam into her side, sending her flying over the pushes and into the clearing.
For a slight moment, she couldn't see or hear anything, the world had gone dark. When the darkness turned to grey, and the muffled sounds of the battle started to get louder, she realized that she wasn't dead, not yet. As she struggled to inhale, and the taste of salty fluid rolled out of her mouth, her body felt hot and the pain was throbbing. Rolling over to her side and forcing herself up onto her feet, she realized that she might be in trouble. Okay, that hurt. It was hard for her to stand still, as every muscle in her body wanted to give way. With every effort left in her, she made her way to the sword that laid only a few feet from her. Every forced step caused fire to filled her lungs and blood to drip from her mouth. Holding her side tight, she tried to kneel to the ground, but her legs collapsed from under her causing her to drop. She now sat on the ground, one hand on her side, the other behind her. She looked up to find herself staring into the eyes of the beast. Was he toying with her? Didn't your mom ever tell you not to play with your food? Not looking away, she reached her hand out feeling the ground surface for the sword.
The handle fit smoothly into her grip. Good! She looked into the beast's eyes deeper, he wasn't like the others. There seemed to be an awareness, an intelligence, a pure evil about him. It was obvious from its expression, that he wanted her to know that. As he moved his head closer, she could smell the foulness of his breath. "Arrghh, talk about doggy breath" She had unwilling spoken out loud. The beast growled. Ut oh, Pissed him off. Not good. Not good.She didn't have time to stand up and raise the sword toward the Beast. Crappp!!!She instinctively raised her arms and hands to protect her face.
For a moment, she thought time had stopped as she sat like someone protecting themselves from a beating. It wasn't till she looked out from under her arm and saw that the battle was still going, that she realized it hadn't. Cautiously, she peeked out over her arm to see her eyes reflecting back at her. She still held the sword. The sword must have been poking out when the beast thrusted itself at her. Slowly lowering her arms, she noticed that the sword was stuck in the beast's mouth. Pulling herself away from it, she yanked the sword out of the mouth. The beast dropped to the ground. Charity took the handle of the sword with both hands and used it to balance her weight as she made her way to her feet. She took a step away, when she felt her body pull back. The beast had grabbed her shirt causing her back on the ground. She took the blade and was about to decapitate him, when she noticed that he was transforming. Slowly the hair dissipated and the features of a human were revealed. He looked more friendly as a beast. The man looked directly at her and smirked, "He knows". his hand fell to the ground.
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Harbinger
Warrior Hunter
Death Is Only The Beginning
Posts: 63
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Post by Harbinger on Jun 4, 2008 16:12:23 GMT -5
He scented the cattish scent almost immediately, the sensory message delayed for his mind was more on the fighting. He tore out another throat before scrappling at another to try and get it off his back. He had deep wounds where he didn't want to know how they got there. The death count was steadily rising with the joint efforts of horse demon, cat, human and lycan. Chestnut's large round hooves could deliver a powerful kick and when the target was the werewolf's head or abdomen, they didn't stand much of a chance. That went double as she was no normal equine. She reared again, pummeling another with her hooves, flames shooting off at another from behind. Her neighing roars and vicious growls were loud and audible.
Raban's too were loud and aggressive, the majority of the attacking mob going for him. He was the most hated one of them all. He could change at will and was immune to some of the werewolf weaknesses. Mostly all save from the sharp silver pointed object of course. Raban naturally feared pointy objects despite using a sword himself. It tended to be more for show or when battle commenced and couldn't afford to change for such reasons like the political.
He just hoped the feline would not mistake him for another werewolf but that shouldn't be too difficult. He knew he had a distinct smell of chestnut on him, and probably a boar too. Maybe a little of Matt's but he couldn't be certain on that one. His teeth suck into a neck and clamped down, refusing to let go as Raban's other limbs defended against others.
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Nemaisare
Warrior Hunter
The farther you are from the edge of reality, the closer you are to my world.
Posts: 157
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Post by Nemaisare on Jun 4, 2008 22:19:54 GMT -5
He watched, eyes shifting randomly between the combatants, never fixing quite on any one or the other, though he did gasp and start to struggle upright a bit when he noticed the trouble Charity was in, but she handled it. Not well, perhaps, or overly gracefully, but the beast died anyhow, so it didn't matter. Then his gaze shifted over to Chestnut, who would have thought that a horse could bring out such fear in him. Oh, he wasn't scared of the lashing hooves, all horses had those, but fire and neighs that sounded like roars? He may not have known much about horses, but he was certain those weren't right.
He saw that Raban seemed to be holding his own, although it was costing the strange wolf-man and it was a lucky thing that there were few werewolves left, else it was likely they all would be overpowered by the end. Instead, almost surprisingly, they seemed to have gaimed the upper hand, and there weren't enough of the creatures left to come after him, for which Matt was exceedingly grateful. And so he watched, keeping his eyes mostly on the dark cat with her thick brown fur and bloody forepaws as she leapt between two of the lycns advancing on her and, swatting left and right, delivered punishing blows that raked through fur, skin and muscle alike, tearing almost down to the bone in some places.
Then, he grinned and let his jaw drop in satisfaction as she leaned over and bit through the spine of one, leaving it paralysed on the ground as she went after the other, growling in a hair raising, high-pitched croon of soft anger. She was protecting her family and these had no right to her lands. True, when they had first come, she had sought shelter elsewhere, frightened, but she had come back and, being nobody's fool, took advantage of the situation to prove her claim on this territory was not arrogance or bluff.
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Post by Enchant on Jun 4, 2008 23:33:41 GMT -5
Clutching onto the sword with both hands, Charity managed to lift herself back up off the ground. Every bone hurt, every breath burned and every swallow pierced. Trying to ignore the pain, she glared down at the now nude man before her making sure that he was dead. His words fluttered within her mind. "He knows!" She didn't have a clue what that meant.
Her eyes quickly shifted when she heard the howls of a lycan. Out of the shadows she saw what was causing the beasr pain. It was a beautiful large feline. It was attacking the pack. Charity watched in amazement at the shear power and stealth of the beast. Glancing over at Matt, she couldn't help but notice how unnaturally calm Matt had seemed.
The crack of bones brought her attention back to the battle. Only a couple lycan remained. The Steed, Raban and the feline seemed to be handling them. Exhausted, and barely keeping her head up, she forced herself toward the bushes to gather her things. When she saw her back pack on the ground and its contents poured out, her heart skipped a beat. Oh god, please no. Dropping the sword to her side, she dropped to the ground and started to go through the back pack. Where is it? Once again, she frantically search the ground, this time it was for the scroll container. Fortunately, as her hand scrapped underneath one of the thick bushes it hit something hard. She spread her hands over it and pulled it out. She inspected it. It was still sealed. She didn't understand why this container was so important, all she knew was she wasn't going to break a promise. The only problem was, she didn't know what it was.
With the container secure around her, she leaned up against the large rock. Feeling confident that the others could handle the situation, she decided to relax. The sounds of the battle quickly faded.
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Harbinger
Warrior Hunter
Death Is Only The Beginning
Posts: 63
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Post by Harbinger on Jun 5, 2008 16:30:20 GMT -5
Raban grunted as he was thrown to Charity's feet. A large bulky grey male made towards him and Raban could scent him coming. He growled intensely and pushed himself up despite joints that angrily complained. He turned in time to halt the grey leaping at Charity and the two wrestled standing up, arms in a strong lock and jaws snapping furiously at each other to gain a more than decent hold of the neck.
Chestnut was winning over her selection of unruly wolves and was soon moving to help the feline with her load, bucking and rearing, pounding hooves against the enemy. She roared loudly, making her status clear to the canines.
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Nemaisare
Warrior Hunter
The farther you are from the edge of reality, the closer you are to my world.
Posts: 157
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Post by Nemaisare on Jun 6, 2008 18:44:41 GMT -5
He was still watching when one of the last of the creatures was crushed to nothing but bones and skin and fur beneath Chestnut's heavy hooves. The horse seemed more than capable of holding her own, in fact, she'd proved that again and again with fail. Then, he saw Charity leaning against a rock and thought that she looked awfully comfortable. He snorted to himself and began crawling over to her, dragging his injured leg behind so he didn't have to put that much weight on it. Huh, it was still smarting from having to hold that dead werewolf's weight. But Matt was only halfway there when the grey lycan, very possibly the last of the attackers, threw Raban almost to the woman's feet. Had he been able t, the youth might have chuckled, for it was slightly amusing that he landed there, though he wasn't sure why he found it funny.
He shook his head, hard, then blinked as they met and reared up to snap and claw and snarl at each other's faces. Well, one of them would gain the upper hand soon enough, but in the meantime, Charity was too close. He started forward again, not entirely certain what he could do about that fact, because she didn't look like she wanted to move very much, but then his mother solved that problem for him by suddenly surging up between the two wrestling wolves and butting her skull, much as Matt had done earlier, against the lower jaw of the grey beast while pushing at Raban to try and get him out of the way as the dazed creature fell back under the new assault until the great cat saw an opening. She took it swiftly, ducking in and closing her ljaws around the beast's throat so that he long canines bit through flesh and vein and cartilage and tore the throat open. And it was done, or at least, it appearred to be, though there were a few of them still half alive. Matt didn't know if that was important, nor did he care as Rasha turned contemptuously from the creature bleeding out its life and came over to stand at his side.
The cat looked down at him, panting from the exertions as he flanks heaved in and out and when she shook her self, blood sprayed, for she had not gone entirely unscathed, though the wound would not prove fatal anytime soon. Matt looked back at her for a moment, then he almost fell forward to tuck himself against her warm, furry chest beneath her bloody chin. She purredand ducked her head to lick at his matted hair, sniffing him and obviously confused, though she did not deny that this was one of her cubs. And when her investigation was done, she glanced up and gave them all such a glare as to say that if any of them dared come any closer, there would be hell to pay. What had they done to her son?
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Harbinger
Warrior Hunter
Death Is Only The Beginning
Posts: 63
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Post by Harbinger on Jun 7, 2008 6:12:43 GMT -5
Raban grunted heavily as something heavily pushed him aside and he didn't rise like before. He had not the strength to and stayed lying on his front, fingers weakly flexing into the soil beneath as he tried to calm his ragged breathing. He was not overly aware of what was happening around him now. Was there more to kill? He hoped none of those that could be afflicted was bitten.
He tried to move his tail but it refused part of the way and it hurt like hell. He sighed figuring it to be broken. It would take a little while for his wounds to even start healing. His eyes closed as he breathed raggedly. His once glossy black fur was now a complete mess of dried blood and mats. His chest hurt plenty too along with his sides and he had a deep gash over his face.
Chestnut was remaining where she was, quelling her shaking limbs. His fire tail and main died down and her eyes no longer danced with the embers there previously. She snorted lightly before moving over to Charity knowing Raban would want to know that all of them were okay but he was asked... though from where she was, he looked utterly dreadful.
Charity. Are you all right? she reached out to the woman, stopping before her with eyes intent on her face. The Shire's nostrils flared as she breathed but the fight was not as bad for her as it had been for Raban and the others.
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Post by Enchant on Jun 7, 2008 16:29:16 GMT -5
All she saw was the darkness before her and heard the words, "He knows!" continuously echoing around her. With feeling of despair, she screamed out into the darkness to battle the loud taunts of the beast laughing at her. Then it went silent. Am I going mad? Am I dead? Then a crashing sound erupted behind her. She turned quickly to defend herself, only to find her back in the battle that started this whole quest. Out of the ashes and smoke a humanoid figured began to move closer. As the figure came into focus, her heart began to speed up, fluid began to fill her eyes, "Marshall?"
She tried to hear what he was saying. His lips exaggerating his words, but she couldn't hear him. Then a soft whisper blew on the wind. "Charity. Are you all right? " Only it wasn't Marshall's voice, it was Chestnuts.
Half aware, she opened her eyes, only to have Marshall's image dissipate and Chestnuts snout fade in before her. Reality had settled in and soon, the pain followed. With a grunt and what little strength she had, she looked up at the horse and nodded, "I will be alright" soon enough. She searched the area, for the others and to ascertain the damage. Everyone looked in pretty bad shape, but it looked like they lived for another day, even if it would be a painful one. But one thing was being to be evident. Someone or something was using dark powers to prevent them from their quest. Either there was a spy among them, someone very good at stealth recon, or someone with serious magic was watching them. and trying to prevent them by any means necessary.
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