| Fight the Real Enemy! | |
| Die Hard in Fight the Real Enemy? |
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Seeing Rhune approach, Asif turns to her and smiles. His white teeth reflecting the moonlight beneath his dark skin. His hand points to where she was wounded, and then pats his heart, looking briefly to the heavens as if giving thanks. He whispers back to her. "Aten listen to my prayers. You live!. Worry much I ! .....Go we must through camp. Friends must get. Think one must cause disturbence by setting horses free from Corral. Guards chase horses not us. Think what you. Plan good?" Asif then looks to the stranger in Rhunes company, his eyebrows raised questioningly. She lays a hand on Asif's shoulders and smiles warmly at him. "It is good to see you again." she whispers in a very low voice. "His name is Dax and he healed me" she nods to the old man behind her. "Yes that would be a good idea, though I for one would like to have the horses. I could do that. The only problem I can see is they might be like those people at the forum. Their minds gone. Guess we will just have to see." she shrugs her mind working trying to figure out what else could be done. She unconsciously reaches down to where the blue tube should be and pats it. She chews on a stray whisp of hair as she thinks about other alternatives. The tube rests safely there as it has, though it was dangerously close to the lunge that almost took Rhune's life. It has yet to be opened. Turning to look down into the clearing, she sees the guards. Wondering what, if anything they could do about them and wondering also about her other friends and how they are doing at the moment. She looks back at Asif and leans close to his ear, "The others if they are alright will be looking for us. I should go back to find them or fix a way for them to find us. What do you think?" she whispers in a low, barely audible voice. Rhune is about to head back to the tunnel when she looks down and sees her companions. Touching Asif on the shoulder again she points to the group. She is too overjoyed at the moment to notice that only part of the group is there. She slips quitely down from the rock to the group, "There is a camp just down there" she whispers to them as she points down behind her. "Where are the others?" Marika picks her way rapidly across the rocky ground, trying to keep Sam in sight while hanging back far enough for the more heavily encumbered party members to follow. She is overjoyed to spot Rhune and Asif in the rocks up ahead, and races to join them. She begins to embrace Rhune but stops short, realizing the girl's wound might still be hurting her, and beams up at Asif on his boulder. "Gods, it is good to see you both," she exclaims, her voice quiet but full of enthusiasm. "We saw the blood at the cave mouth...I feared the worst." Rhune reaches out for the woman anyway and hugs her warmly, "I am alright thanks to this man." She nods in the direction of Dax. "This time I thought for certain that I would not make it." She smiles at the old man. Marika turns then and nods respectfully to the old man. "And you, sir, must be the one who healed our friend? It is an honor to meet you. I'm Marika." Dax' eyes close and he bows his head, a small smile creasing his lips. "Dax," he says, his eyes returning to Marika, their blue reflecting the full moon even as the blue crystal hanging round his neck does the same. "Only glad I came up on 'er in time t' 'elp," he says quietly, his words touched with an English accent. "Seemed t'ave took a good thrashin', but she's back in fightin' trim now." "An' glad I am t' meet ye too, m'lady. Marika.... wot a fine name, too," he says cordially, without seeming to mean anything other than to be friendly. Jacobus turns to the others, he's still filthy but his face sports a huge grin "Free at last ! ha hah !" he says overjoyed, "I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life mining rocks." Jacobus falls to the floor and kisees the ground. He then rolls onto his back and gazes up at the stars. "Ahhhh, pure clean air." he takes a deep breath and then releases it "better luck next time lady fate !!" He then realises that he's in company and slowly gains his feet, wincing slightly because of his thigh wound. "My thanks to you all for my rescue." Jacobus moves over to Asif, "It's good to see you alive still !!" he says as he peers over the edge of the rock. "well, well, well..." "How did you fare with the guards ?" he finishes surveying the camp Marika glances back toward the cave mouth. "We should move on, before someone from that camp comes to relieve the guards. I'll run get the others...I hope they've found Silus by now. I'll leave my books and the lantern here to move faster; my night vision's pretty good." Before she can act on this plan..., you all hear some dragging and cursing coming from the tunnel, and Ullar and Matteo, hauling the dead weight of Kenishiro, come running, stumbling, out of the tunnel. Like a bad action movie, the moment they come out of the tunnel and pull themselves to the side, you all hear a monstrous explosion from deep within, and flame shoots out thirty feet from the tunnel mouth, setting a tree and some bushes outside on fire. After the flame, the brief scent of roasted gnome rises in the air. Marika, who was thrown to the ground by the concussion even at this distance, picks herself up and sprints across the hillside toward the tunnel. "Are you all right?" she asks breathlessly as she reaches Ullar and Matteo. Her ears still ringing from the explosion, she can't quite hear their reply, but they look more or less intact. Kenishiro, on the other hand... "Mother o' pearl!" Dax gasps, before catching himself. "Seems comin' t' find Asif first was a be'ter idea than we t'ought, eh?" he says absently to Rhune. Marika looks over her shoulder, in the direction of the camp. Lacking Asif's lookout perch, she can't see what's happening there, but it takes little imagination to guess the soldiers will soon be arriving in force. With Kenishiro still unconscious, she's not very optimistic about the chances of escape. The young priestess has no idea why this outlander's body and spirit are so resistant to the healing power of Italia's gods...but under the circumstances, she sees no choice but to try once more. "Minerva, protector of the wise," she intones, drawing the silver pendant from within her cloak and holding it tightly in one hand, "this man has travelled far, and he has much to learn and to teach. By thy mercy and wisdom, do not let his journey end here." She releases the holy symbol and lays both hands on Kenishiro's wounds, hoping that this time her faith will be strong enough to reach him... Her prayers are answered, as her healing touch works wonders upon the large man's frame. His most grievious wounds close up and cease bleeding entirely. However, he still carries the remains of his burns and a great amount of pain from the wounds he received via the gnomish picks. She is able to rouse him from unconsciousness once again, though, and he blinks upward at her, once again rather confused by the situation. At her urging, he takes to his feet, quite unsteadily, but at least none of you will have to carry him. Marika gives Kenishiro what she hopes is a reassuring smile, then casts her eyes briefly heavenward in gratitude. "Thank you, Lady," she whispers, before turning her attention to earthly matters, and the various impending disasters they encompass. Rhune looks around for Silus, "Where is Silus?" she then looks back at the tunnel they had just come from. She sighs deeply and hopes that he was not there. Knowing that they can not stay where they are she looks around at the others, "Now what?" she asks holding her sword lightly and at the ready. She is tired and just wants to get someplace where they can all rest without doing battle. "We have lost Silus..."said Krige and sighs. "I think we should hide somewhere and rest. And then we should search for missing Silus. What do you think?" says Krige after short thinking. Asif, still keeping an eye on the camp, notices that the main tent in the center opens moments after the explosion, and a fellow in a magnificent red tabard with a white eagle or griffon upon it comes out. As the others rush to give Matteo and Ullar a hand, Asif sees that the fellow begins yelling orders. The camp begins to stir. Though obvious that those on guard duty were sleeping, the man does not berate them. Rather, he turns inside his tent and a smallish man in black robes emerges sleepily. He waves his hand and Asif can see a tiny disturbance in the air all around the clearing. Obviously, the camp was more secure than it looked. The man in the red tabard motions toward some of the men, who seem to put their sleep away like a piece of luggage, and seem to be moving at full speed within seconds. Perhaps a score of men walk quickly up to the corral and begin preparing their horses, with speed. Each appears an experienced fighter, lightly armored but carrying a variety of nasty looking weapons. Lastly, and most bothersome, emerging from the tent is a man in white robes and a high hat, who Asif's sharp vision can tell him is certainly the Bishop. He walks up next to the small fellow with the black robes and the man with the red tabard and they converse casually. The Bishop motions up into the area you all are presently, and the man nods. Jacobus looks down at the stirring camp, "You all certainly seem to attract trouble !!" Jacobus squints down at the camp "I know that man in the white robe", jacobus exclaims "I sold him a batch of Jerboha religious statues, genuine of course !!" he begins to back away slightly grinning "however now would not be the best time to discuss them I feel, I believe he was not satisfied with the merchandise, my gut instinct is to run, anyone else having the same thought ?" Looking about, you are all here other than Silus, who, if he was still in there, is surely on the way to his Lord at this point. However, it will be impossible to flee the site carrying Kenishiro, and difficult enough without. None of you have the slightest idea where you are in relation to Florence, though Asif from his perch cannot see it, so it must be on the other side of the hill that you exited from. However, he can see the fast-flowing Arno river off to the left not more than a hundred yards from here. The river flows immediately by Florence to the south, so somehow or other you all must have crossed underneath it to get where you are. Asif's sharp eyes pick up some sort of trawler riding upstream eastbound at this very moment. While being glad to be out in the open again, Ullar realizes the potential danger of the situation quickly enough. Now that Marika is busy with Kenishiro, the large guy looks around for escape routes. "People, gather around, and make it quick! We don't have much time I think and I am not particurlarly fond on another fight while most of us just experienced near death experiences." He pauzes for a brief moment, as in to regain his breath and then continues.. "Did any of you, including you old fella," while pointing at Dax, which is new in the group to Ullar, "see Silus? It would be a big loss if we have to do without his funny remarks in the future." The priestess shakes her head sadly. "I hope he's safe, but I have no idea where he is. We must move on without him." Marika sighs. Matteo listens to the group as he watches the band of mercenaries begin to move closer to their location. "Chances are that Silus has either passed on, in which case we can but morn the loss, or he is somewhere that is quite a bit safer than we! Let's look to our safety first, then we may try to solve the puzzle of Silus' disappearance." Ullar continues"Well.. I think we should head to the river as soon as possible. Perhaps there is some kind of boat or raft present. We really need to get out of here and we have to do it quickly" he says, gesturing towards the camp with those nasty Mercenaries. The smell of the explosion in the tunnel is still present in his nose and the ex-gladiator is pretty much convinced that waiting around for those men who are hunting them is suicide. Therefore he urges everyone to come up with suggestions or follow him to the river. "You are right! I'm with you." said Krige and begins to peer at the river. Matteo nodded to Ullar, "The river sounds like our best bet. I'll admit I'm not very familiar with these surroundings." Marika nods her agreement. "Sorry, there's no time to rest," she tells Kenishiro softly. "We have to move before they catch us." She looks around to make sure no one else has been lost in the confusion, and prepares to follow the group to the river. Rhune looks around. "As much as I hate to leave Silus to the mercies of the Bishop again, I agree with Ullar. We need to get away from here. Perhaps if we can hide somewhere else for awhile the Bishop and his men will leave the area. Then we will be free to return and look for Silus." She says with a sigh. She had grown to the like the human with his funny sayings. "Besides I have something that I want to look at that the Gnoll dropped at the meeting." she says patting the pouch with the blue tube. She hefts her long sword and waits for Marika to finish with Kenshiro. She will then follow everyone down to the river. Hearing Rhune talk about the item from the Gnoll, Matteo's eyes widen. "The tube? Tell me, my sweet lady, that you got your hands on the tube! That Gnoll said that it was supposed to be our salvation from this cursed 'Jerboha'." She smiles at Matteo, "Yes I managed to get my hands on the blue tube. With everything that has been happening so far I just haven't had the chance to tell anyone or to even get a look at it." she replies in a low whisper. Jacobus mills around the group, "Hold on a moment, your not actually thinking about taking on the cult of Jerboha, are you ?" He looks at each of them in turn and then shrugs, "Well until I catch up with my business partner I am at a loose end and I suspect you may need my skills, since I owe you my freedom I'll come along with you." Rhune looks back at Jacobus, "Yes we will be trying something against this cult. It is one of the reasons why I am here." He smiles, "I agree that we should reach the river as soon as we can." He looks down at his dirty body clad only in a loin cloth. "I may need a change of clothes sometime soon." Matteo bend to lend a hand to the now conscious Kenshiro. "We must move on, my big friend. I will help you, but we must move fast!" Then he turned back to the group. "Anyone that can help to disguise our tracks would be handy. If we can get them to miss our trail once again, it will give us that much more time to get the injured to safety." Rhune nods, "And I agree. We had better try to get someplace that is much safer. Then perhaps we can find out what has happened to Silus." she looks down at the ground and spotting a broken branch with several leaves on it she takes in one hand and begins to erase their tracks. As she does so, "Before I forget there are some additional weapons and armor that I liberated from the dead guard. A spear, shield and chainmail for those who can use them." She points to a small pile of stuff just over by a small outcropping of rock. "A spear!" exclaims Ullar. He straps the hand-axe to his belt and picks up the spear, examining the weapon to see if it has any use to the warrior. The weapon is quite nice, looking brand new, and Ullar sees that it will serve him well. He hoists it in both hands and leads the way to the river. Matteo, Kenshiro on one shoulder, beckoned for Ullar, "Lead on, large one!" Seeing the mercenaries mounted up now, Asif motions toward the rest, indicating there is not much time. Looking down into the river valley, however, Krige tells you that the soft earth there will leave beautiful tracks, and if the mounted men make any time at all up to this outcropping, they will have no trouble tracking you and catching you well before you reach the river. I'll move you all ahead some more tonight, but I think that you all have taken enough in the way of being heavily outnumbered and surrounded and all that for a while. So I'll give you a little more time to work out the way down to the river. If I don't get anything back by tonight, I'll have you go ahead and take your chances with a straight run to the river. However, Jacobus and Kenishiro cannot run. |
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This page was last updated on 20 January 2001 |