Lost Scout

[Frundette]

In the few seconds of skirmishing in the dark, Gytha had already lost her sense of direction and was not certain which way to go to reach the tunnel exit. Not that she had any intention of leaving Anna to face Laethros alone. And possibly Charles too, she thought, still unsure where his loyalties really lie. She swung her hammock rod, but it hit nothing except thin air.

Hearing that he was getting surrounded, Laethros crouched low and, as quietly as he could, moved to his left until his hand found the wall, intending to sneak away before the others realized they were only fighting each other.

 

[StarrNico]

Anna strained to hear anything in the darkness that surrounded them. She heard the rod go swinging by almost over her head and realized that Leathros was not in front of her anymore, Gytha was. "Gytha" She called and made to stand up, "he's gone somewhere, let's go" She said and reached out to grab her hand

 

[Frundette]

Anna's hand brushed against Gytha's arm and she flinched slightly as it hit the place where the old man's knife had cut her. After another moment of fumbling, however, her hand found Anna's. "Which way?"

"Are you both okay?" Charles asked, stumbling a little to the side until his hand found the wall.

Laethros listened from his place nearby, realizing by their voices that the girls were now between himself and Charles. "Charles! Get them!" he cried, not thinking that the younger man would switch loyalties yet again, but wanting to cement that seed of doubt in the girls' minds. At the same moment, Laethros lunged toward the two girls.

 

[StarrNico]

"Your left, go" Anna said then started to turn towards Charles at his question. She turned back when Leathros called out, raising the stick to defend herself and releasing Gytha's hand. She used the stick and his momentum to turn them when Leathros ran into her and made them both fall to the floor. She knew the scout would have a much better chance of getting free than she would so she called out agian "Go get home and warn them, now."

 

[Frundette]

Gytha trusted Anna's sense of direction and moved to her left, hands held out in front of her so that she didn't run into anything. But she had not made it more than a few steps when she heard Laethros and Anna fall to the ground and Gytha paused. "Get home and warn them!" Anna's voice rang out, but, thinking that Laethros would kill the girl, could not just leave her.

"Charles! Please help!" she called. But didn't need to, the man was already inserting himself into the fray, somehow finding Laethros as the old man was trying to get back on his feet.

"Girls, go uphill to get out!" he called as his fist connected with Laethros's chin, a shot that was more luck than anything.

 

[StarrNico]

Anna shook her head and stood, heading for Gytha's voice. She had lost the stick somewhere in the dark and didn't want to waste time looking for it. "Gytha, go. I'm coming" She said and tried to find the wall to follow it in the dark.

 

[Frundette]

Wasting no more time, Gytha continued away from Laethros and Charles, moving as quickly as she could along the wall. She could hear the men struggling behind her, but could not tell who was getting the upper hand. As soon as she rounded the curve in the tunnel, an unexpected site met her eyes... daylight coming in the tunnel entrance. She hadn't realized how long she and Anna had been asleep.

Picking up her pace, she rushed toward the light, emerging onto the ledge with the narrow and steep pathway leading up the side of the cliff.

 

[StarrNico]

Anna followed Gytha until she saw the cliff "Oh, no" She said and turned to face the cave wall, closing her eyes. She had forgotten in the struggle that the cliff was this way. She rested her forehead against the coolness of the cave wall and started muttering a phrase her father had told her to try to help her with this fear.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

"Don't know. Human man," Mulush shrugged. "Gomez find what human knows." Previously, he had been looking forward to helping Gomez with any persuasion needed, but there was still work to do to repair the damage caused by the fire. "Barash help."

--

After failing to remove the tight leather bonds from his wrists and succeeding only in rubbing several spots raw and sore, Aelfric had drifted off into a light sleep. As Barash began talking to him, he opened his eyes slowly and couldn't help a small groan escaping his lips. While he had slept, the blow to his face had swollen, making his left eye not want to open all the way and the muscles in his back felt seized up so that it was difficult to move. He was not feeling in a particularly cooperative mood...

Gomez readjusted his hat and brushed his dusty hands on his trousers to get his wits back, he understood that one of the humans who had attacked was captured and being held in Ghegari's cookhouse. As Mulush called to Barash to assist them in the repair job, Gomez replied: "I will go see him."

With only the doorway to provide some light the cookhouse was dim and dreary... this was one place that Gomez didn't particularly like. It was like he could feel the anger and suffering of everything that had died within its walls, it made him uneasy. Perhaps the human man felt the same. Once his eyes adjusted to the dark he was very surprised to recognise the man hunched in the cage, though barely so. He racked his brain for a name but nothing came to mind, he was sure that he had seen this man somewhere though.

"Human man..." He got to the basics first. "What might your name be?"

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Jasper furrowed his brow worriedly, but nodded. "Okay."

The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon as the two approached the door of the Ragnar's personal residence. Perhaps having heard voices outside, a woman wiping wet hands on her apron opened the door as they walked toward it and Jasper recognized her as one of Ragnar's servants. He'd met her a time or two before when accompanying Master Corin. "Jasper!" the woman said, looking between the two, surprised to see anyone at such an early hour.

"We need to speak with Lord Ragnar right away, Magge," Jasper said, already forgetting Ezra's instructions to let the older man do the talking.

Assuming some kind of medical emergency, Magge nodded and hurried off.

Ezra didn't say anything as the woman hurried off, he had forgotten to consider that Ragnar might know the apprentice better than himself. He nodded reassuringly at Jasper, urging him to keep going. Perhaps the younger man had a better chance of convincing the man, and Ezra didn't feel excluded by that.