Asif casts his eyes around the bloodied deck for a bow, and some arrows to display the skill of archery which is in his blood. For let truth be know, archery had been more natural to him than the skill of swordplay. He had been able to outshoot the prince Khaufre from the age of 10, and his own brother the Amir of the Guard from the age of 15.

Looking about, Asif sees that there are no weapons of any type on the boat, though a pike lies to the starboard. Certainly no missile weapons other than the boarder's daggers, and to throw one of those far enough to hit one of the archers would be quite a task. However, Urak, apparently still distracted by thoughts of the Bishop, he notices carrying a short bow with him, along with a quiver of arrows. When Asif motions torward them, Urak shrugs and hands them both over. Asif sees that they are finely crafted, though of materials he is not familar with.

While Jacobus and Matteo fight the nearby boarders, Marika remains still, holding pressure on her last bleeding wound, not wanting to endanger the two men by giving them a moving charge to protect. Just as her defenders down their opponents and move on to fight elsewhere, a stray arrow slams into the leg of the unconscious newcomer, Xania. Marika rises to her hands and knees in alarm, but she is weak from shock and blood loss, and a wave of dizziness and nausea drops her back to the deck immediately.

Shaking her head and fighting for consciousness, Marika moves more slowly this time, inching along the gunwhale toward the injured mage. Before she reaches her intended patient, an arrow sprouts from Ullar's chest, a horrific wound from the look of it, though the warrior remains on his feet and fighting. He's too far away for Marika to even think of reaching him in her weakened state, so she trusts the other healers to care for the big warrior, while she continues to crawl toward Xania.

Clinging painfully to consciousness, Marika drags herself slowly across the deck toward the bleeding Xania, aware of the battle raging around her only as a series of disjointed, nightmarish scenes. The smell of blood is everywhere, punctuated by the worse stink of ruptured viscera, as the bald-pated boarders fight and die in eerie, mechanical silence.

She reaches Xania just as Jacobus and Asif grab the two of them and pull them toward the edge of the boat. One there, she sees that Xania's wounds are indeed horrific, particularly the wound to her temple. Marika summons up the power of her goddess to heal it, but is not impressed with the results. The wound on her head has closed up, but the one in her leg is not and she appears to still be suffering the effects of the shock and injury. She remains quite unconscious.

Marika blinks in incomprehension as Jacobus drags her to the edge of the craft, wondering for a moment if the group is about to abandon ship. Before she can put words to her questions, they are answered for her, as the first flight of arrows slice the air overhead. The archers are back in action. She nods her thanks to Jacobus and Asif, and turns to concentrate on her patient, elevating the bleeding leg as much as possible without exposing Xania to further arrow fire. The one healing spell she managed to cast, as marginal as it was, exhausted whatever reserves of strength she had left, and it is all the young priestess can do to avoid passing out. She loses track of time and space altogether, aware only of her own mumbled prayers and of the need to maintain pressure against Xania's still-bleeding wound.

Jacobus looks around at his wounded colleagues "We need to get out of here!" he tells the others. "I need a shield" he asks the others.

Ullar's buckler, unused at present, is available, and he provides it to the much smaller man.

He crawls along the deck using the shield as a further defense against the archers and move to the helm.

A volley of arrows arcs over the side of the deck when Jacobus moves toward the helm. He realizes that a shield, even one much larger than this, will not totally keep him safe, when the arrows bounce about him, three of which are only stopped from skewering him by his armor. Also, he realizes that there is no way that he could stand up and maneuver the helm without being turned into a human porcupine. He ducks and crawls back toward the gunwhales, returning Ullar his buckler.

Jacobus also yells at the rowers to row as hard as they can.

Kalanos yells back from inside the cabin "The men are pulling hard right now. Something is blocking the way. Must be a tree or rock or something in the river!"

Ullar curses, realizing how close he is to death! While laying on his back he is unsure wheter there are anymore of the men who reached the boat on deck, so he holds firmly to his new sword, trying to lunge at ankles if anyone dares to attack him.

After a few moments of rest, the warrior scowls over the floor to a place where he can sit up, without getting his head plugged by arrows. With a sore voice he calls out: "Asif, Urak, Matteo.. are you alright?" "Jacobus, Marika, Rhune.. anyone knows what to do?" "And how is the new one, Xania...."

Looking over at Ullar, Rhune replies "I seem to be fairly okay. The others though are in bad shape. As Jacobus said we need to get away from here." She replies just before she goes about retrieving daggers and making her away around to the other side of the boat.

Removing as much from his clothes as he can, Ullar tries to bind his wounds more firmly. The pain floating through his body reminds him of his time in the Arena.

"I really lost my touch. I need to practice more often.. those men should have never been able to hit me.... I've been a fool!"

Ullars eyes are looking straight ahead, the warrior still near exhaustion from battle and wounds.

Rhune looks at Matteo, "I am sorry about the strike, I really was aiming for the other guy" she attempts to smile as she says this in a light hearted tone. She then looks around and using the side of the boat she crawls around and retrieves all of the daggers that she can. They have to get off whatever is holding them here so that the rowers can move the boat. She also knows that there is one swimmer left.

Rhune is able to retrieve six of the boarder's daggers without exposing herself to danger, leaving two in more open areas.

Matteo laughs, grinding his teeth as a wave of pain follows the laughter. "It is my fault as well, for closing too much into an already cramped fight. I live, and we learn." Matteo then began crawling his way towards Ullar, doing his best to ignore the pain of his many wounds and being especially careful to avoid catching the arrow in his shoulder on anything as he moved.

Looking at the arrow sticking from the big man's chest, Matteo whistles silently. "Ullar, my friend. This is going to be quite excruciating. My apologies. Matteo then proceeded to ready a bandage and grasped the base of the arrow firmly. Just before he began to rip the arrow free, Matteo's eyes narrow as he glances past Ullars head towards the far side of the deck. "Shit!", Matteo whispers loud enough for Ullar to hear, "More borders!!!"

Then, as Ullar is distracted trying to look for the new borders, Matteo wrenches the arrow free, clasping the bandage down over the wound to stop the bleeding and begins his healing prayer. That done, and knowing he has no more healing in him, Matteo slumps to the side of the big warrior, finally succoming to the pain of his myriad wounds.

Ullar's wounds are still quite grievious, though Matteo has been able to cut off the bleeding properly. However, the one in his chest is still quite open, and too much exertion will surely renew the blood loss. Matteo is quite amazed that Ullar is still walking around, as his wounds would surely kill a lesser man.

After a few breaths to rest, Matteo does his best to ready himself for further combat. After bandaging as best he can the few cuts he's taken, Matteo turns towards Urak, "Urak, my brother, I need some help with this arrow. I'm afraid I can't remove it myself."

Urak, who has been quiet since boarding the boat, obviously still torn between returning to Florence to face the Bishop and continuing, moves to assist Matteo. He yanks the arrow roughly from his body, apparently by the manner of his people, and bandages him. He sees that Matteo's wounds are still severe, though not enough to keep him from moving about and defending himself.

"I am going to see if I can find that other swimmer. He may be tring to get around to the other side of the boat." Rhune tells the others. Taking as many of the daggers as she can places them at various points of her body: belt, boot tops ect. she then uses the side of the boat and any other objects as cover and makes her way by crawling along to the other side of the boat and hopefully on the other side of the main cabin. She then rises up to look over the side to see if she can see what it caused the boat to stop and if the swimmer is on that side.

By staying low and only very briefly exposing herself, Rhune is able to make it to the other side of Kalanos' small cabin. One volley of arrows flies her way, but is hasty and off target. From her vantage point, she takes a look at the shore and sees that the eight archers are merely standing there with their bows ready waiting for activity. Looking closely, they don't appear to have any other weapons. The better equipped fellow clearly has a sword, but he appears different than they do, their leader, it seems. He is talking to them, but it is impossible to tell from this distance what he is saying.

Looking over the side, she cannot see the swimmer or any trace of him. However, she is able to see some sort of obstruction running from the shore to the hull of the boat, something long and slender. It is just a few feet deep in the river, and disappears once it reaches the shore.

As Jacobus makes his way to the helm, he hears Rhune going for the other swimmer. "Rhune, it's possible he may try to destroy the rudder. Check that first!! If that gets damaged I can't steer the ship."

She looks at and a puzzled frown creases her brows, but she had seen the rudder as he calls it once and knows that it is at the rear of the boat. Trying to maintain as much cover as she can she will make her way back there and check it out.

Seeing that the way is somewhat exposed and remembering the reaction from beforehand, Rhune dashes for the rear of the ship and dives to the gunwhales, followed immediately once again by a hail of arrows. However none of them comes very close as she is quite quick.

Asif peeks over the side to get a good time to begin his counter attack, one against nine. When the archers fire their arrows at Rhune, he sees his opportunity. He rises just high enough to have room to fire and launches arrows in rapid succession at those on the shore. His opinion of his archery is no braggadacio, as his first two arrows take one of the men in the leg and in the heart. He quickly falls to the ground. Asif continues to fire, his third arrow landing just short of the archers and his fourth also finding a target, this time just nicking the shoulder of a second man.

Asifs face breaks into a smile of grim intent. Aten be praised, his wrath shall clear the shore of these infidels. Asif voice echoes across the waves.

"El-hamdu lilah, mauwithuh infidels" Occ Translation - Praise be to Aten, all infidels shall die and pay for their sins.

All eight return fire, but Asif is quite amazing, using the cover of the gunwhale, his natural speed, and Marika's spell to evade their fire. The first two are dead on target, deflected by Marika's magic enough to not find their mark. The next three are off the mark, then the final three bounce off the spell's protection. Asif continues his show of skill even as the archers are frustrated at finding their target. However, his shots do not find the mark this time, though both are very close and narrowly miss their targets. The archers fire another volley at their sole target, four missing or hitting the hull, three more bouncing off the magic, and one Asif manages to dodge himself, still continuing to fire off arrows quickly.

"Aten protects all who see his light. Seek his mercy or face his wrath!!"

His next two arrows are on target, both finding their mark in the head and neck of the second man, who falls quite messily to the ground. Two more shots bounce off the magical protection before the inevitable happens and one finally finds it's mark, slicing deeply into his left arm and bouncing off. Two more miss and one bounces off the shield as Asif ducks down to the deck to deal with his arm.

Asif sucks in the air, and grits his teeth. "Aten, give me thy strength. To Matteo, he says "Efendi, my work is not yet done, bind my arm quickly. The wrath of Aten causes them fear, and my lesson to them is not yet ended."

Matteo tends to the wound quickly, anxious to restore Asif to dealing with the archers. He binds it tightly and determines that Asif will still be able to fire, though his left arm will lack some strength until it heals properly. Asif regretfully notes that he won't be able to fight with both his scimitars at the same time until his arm has been treated, but that's for the future.

Peeking over at the rudder, Rhune sees that it is in perfect shape. There is no trace of the swimmer or any foul play in this area. Staying watchful, she remains in this area, protected from the arrows now being fired en masse at Asif by the high boat sides here.

Asif rises once more to attempt to diminish the ranks of the archers some more. The two on the shore are ignored by the seven remaining, who have not moved for the most part but continue to fire arrows. His next shot is truly fine, shishkabobing the third man through the heart. He stumbles, then falls to the water's edge. The followup misses by a wide margin, as Asif feels the tendon in his forearm twinge. Three of the answering shots miss by some distance and the other three bounce off the protection Marika provided.

The next volley are all well off-target except for the armored man, whose shot is right on target, but once again deflected by the magic. Asif silently thanks Marika as he continues his private barrage. His first shot takes the next man in the chest and he falls as well, though the followup once again is well off target. He can't seem to keep up the pace of firing the arrows quickly enough due to his strained arm.

The same holds true of his next pair, as the first shot slams into the fifth man's shoulder. Surprisingly, the man does not cease fire, but continues on, expressionless. The next volley is quite accurate, as three of the arrows are just barely deflected by the magic and one is not, penetrating it and raking his left side roughly. Asif cannot see but feels the protection of the magic fade with this blow and knows that it will put him at great risk in his continued attacks. He ducks down to be treated by the healers before he continues.

Ducking down, however, he hears Ullar yell something. While Rhune is looking out for the swimmer at the rear of the ship, the fellow has clambered aboard the prow and was sneaking toward Asif to do his dirty work. Ullar, still very concerned about this very thing, sees the man slowly sneaking across the bloody deck. The man turns with his dagger and fires it at Ullar, who dodges it awkwardly by falling to the side from his seated position. Glaring with hate, the man once again dives into the water. As the others on the ship have melee weapons prepared, none is able to get out anything to throw at the fellow except Rhune, who takes the dagger she had been holding and hurls it at the bothersome fellow. Her shot is one the mark, nailing him in the right shoulder as he hits the water awkwardly.

Asif, not afraid to face the dangers of the archers without the magical protection and assured that he is the most skilled archer in the group, leans over the bow once again and fires off a pair of arrows. His first shot once again takes a man, this time in the groin or stomach, he cannot tell which, and he falls, leaving only four men along with the five he has already killed. Those four return fire, two missing and two evaded by the evasive maneuvers of the almost inhuman Asif.

The pattern continues as Asif feels the quiver begin to empty out. His first shot is magnificent, taking the sixth man in the throat, falling in a fountain of blood, while the second is well off the mark.

Asif seeing the diminishing quiver yells over his shoulder to his nearest companions."Efendi, the tool of Atens wraths requires your help. My quiver is nearly spent. Please collect some arrows, so that my lesson to these infidels can be completed.".

The three remaining return fire, though, and Asif's luck does not continue to hold out. An arrow sprouts from his chest while a second whizzes by his ribs, nicking him. He falls to the deck hard, but looks at the healers, begging them in his tongue to repair him once again. They do so, and the much bandaged warrior returns to work.

Asif groans and fights against the administrations of the healers. "Let me up, Let me up I must finish these murderous swines."

Meanwhile, Rhune sees that the archers are more than occupied with their target of choice and runs toward the cabin to see where the swimmer went. Once again, he appears to be headed toward the foresection of the ship, though he does not appear to have any other weapon. Rhune debates diving in after him, but is content merely to watch what he is doing for now. She fires one of the boarder's daggers after him, but he is some feet underwater and the weapon has lost it's momentum by that point.

Asif leans over again, but it appears his wounds are telling on him, as both shots are well wide of their mark. Two more arrows take their toll, one whizzing by his ear and slashing it almost in half, the second glancing by his right leg. This appears to be too much for the marksman, who crashes to the deck, exhausted from the archery and the no less than seven wounds he has taken in the effort. While the healers see to him, someone else must take up the bow if those on the shore are to be dealt with.

Asif bleeding from his numerous wounds fights for consciouness. A jumble of words issues from his lips. A rhymnic chant, which abrupty stops as he falls unconscious.. "Bi-simllah i-r-raheem, ed-dinya atma....." Occ - In the name of god the compassionate and the mercifull it is dark..."

Urak takes up his bow to continue the effort so nobly begun by Asif, though he does not think he can match him as a marksman. Nonetheless, he sees that unless those on the shore are dealt with, the group might never get out of here. Gathering up his courage, he leans over the bow and takes a shot with the dwindling supply of his homemade arrows. He thanks the Five as both arrows find their target in the body of the seventh man, who drops to the ground as well. The two shots returned, one is off the mark and a second hits the hull just in front of Urak.

Rhune sees the swimmer break the plane of the water once more, some twenty feet to the fore of the ship. He appears to be swimming away, but against the current, which makes it a tough thing to do. She attempts to make it tougher by throwing a dagger at him, but he dives back under before it gets there.

On the shore, the armored man can now be seen to have backed up quite some distance from the shore. Now he turns and dodges into the forest and is gone, leaving the sole archer still firing shots at the ship with an absent expression on his face. His shot is well short, though, hitting the water and Urak finishes him with one arrow to the stomach and the second to the head. He is most impressed with his own display of archery. Four shots and four hits.

Gradually realizing the danger is past, the party begins to assess their situation. Other than Asif, their injury status is virtually the same as after the boarding party intruded. Asif is conscious, but in great pain and rather weak. From where they are, the group sees eight dead men on the shore and another nine on the ship, not counting the three that the newcomer apparently drowned with her magic and the two that got away.

Asif fights through the haze of pain and in a weak voice he whispers. "Safe we be now?"

Kalanos comes forward from the cabin once the fighting is over and looks at the bodies, "Impressive! Stephan knew what he was doing when he hired you! I'd have gotten involved, of course, but we don't keep weapons on board, so throwing mean glances at those fellows probably wouldn't have helped much." Ignoring some of the resentful stares of the badly injured group, he continues, "Don't worry, though, I know a place that you all can rest tonight and gather your strength before you get out to Sukiskayn settlement. When you get there, Stephan's old granny will be able to heal you up nicely. She's a wizard at that type of thing. And a damn fine cook, I might add."

After speaking with Rhune, Kalanos speaks again, "Looks like they threw a chain across the river and then covered it with dirt at the shore. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes to find where it's at on the shore and we'll be on our way. I assume that you all might want to be checking the pockets of this lot." He motions toward those dead on the deck, "Though I would wager there ain't much on them. Look like brandeds to me, and that type don't care much for money."

It slowly penetrates Marika's awareness that Kalanos' words and tone of voice are both more casual than she'd expect to hear in the heat of battle, and she looks around to see the fighting has stopped. Xania seems no worse than before, though hardly much better either. Her other comrades, though battered, all look as though they will survive, and Marika sends a whispered prayer of thanks to the Goddess.

Turning to say something to Urak, Marika catches sight of the bald, severed head of one of the boarders resting against the gunwhale nearby. The dead man's clouded eyes stare sightlessly into hers, and Marika manages to haul her upper body over the gunwhale in time to retch noisily into the river. "Landlubber," sneers Kalanos, missing the point entirely.

Her head slightly clearer, Marika returns her attention to her patient, to find Urak already kneeling beside the injured Xania. "Thanks, Urak," she whispers, before surrendering to fatigue and blood loss, and sagging unconscious against the gunwhale.

When the group searches out the shore, they find eight short bows and the majority of Urak's arrows, along with Rhune's throwing dagger she hurled so long ago. Also somewhere around sixty arrows are pulled off the hull in various places and are still fit to be used or were left in the quivers of the dead archers. None of the almost twenty men has any money or even a purse to carry it in. The boarders have nothing other than the daggers they brought on board, and the archers carried no other weapons than their bows.

One distinctive thing, though, is that each of the men is branded with a cross on their left wrists. Also, without exception each bears scars, brands, and other obvious signs of torture, and fairly nasty torture at that. It is impossible to tell anything about them individually, as they don't even wear differently colored clothes or gear and none possesses anything personal. The two that escaped were clothed and equipped differently and perhaps something useful could be gained from them, but they are surely long gone by now.

As Rhune is one of the few that is uninjured she will gather the bows and arrows and return them to the boat after checking the bodies of the archers. As they have nothing of interest except for the the tattoes she leaves them. "This is good that we have bows now. I can use one." she says to the others as she lays the bows, arrows and quivers down. She takes one of the bows and hefting it decides to keep it. She then takes a quiver and fills it with arrows. She then looks over at Asif, "Asif, you use one. Until we can get your things from Florence, might as well take one of these and use it." She passes a quiver, a bow and enough arrows to fill the quiver to Asif.

Asif, his back against the gunwale, shall take the offered bow with his uninjured arm."Thankyou Efendi. Such a small gift will indeed please me. Tell me, safe we be now?. Heka at work at this place. Archers not natural in mind and body"

Looking around at the others, "Anyone else can use a bow?" she has those who can't move much take a bow and a quiver of arrows untill the arrows run out. She then finishes gathering all of the daggers and looks at those on board, "Who can use daggers? I would to keep 4 of them just in case." she looks over at Xania to see if she wants her pick.

Xania, still unconscious, does not answer.