"Go. Home. Rose." he said flatly, pointing back in the direction they came from. He never got a chance to press the point further, though, because with a sudden bursting through the foliage, the king's guardsmen appeared before them, swords drawn and lanterns held high.

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~*~ I am the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. ~*~

{OOC//Aw, I was going to jump in yesterday but I had to get off...is it too late for me to jump in now?}

_________________

and I'm still a dreamer, a believer
I've lost my faith in so many things but I still believe in You

(I don't think it's too late for you to join, though it's really not up to me!)

Rose opened her mouth to argue back, saying that what was her home was no longer a home since she had no family left when soldiers crashed out of the forest with lanters and drawn swords. Instinctively she jumped back to the far edge of the clearing, bow in hand, and in a few seconds an arrow notched and pulled back. The bow itself was made by the hands of it's weilder out of a hard white oak, and carved with roses. The arrows, made by the same hands, had black flint heads. The shafts were made out of the same hard white oak as the bow, and the red fletchings from cardinals. The feathers were her brother's idea.

Not only was this out of instinct, but she saw this as a chance to prove herself in battle to Haven as a markswoman. She had no family left, and he couldn't say she was too young because she had to be only around two years younger than him...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Years of dangerous, potentialy deadly experience made Tomos jump back into a fighter's stance and draw his glaive at the same time as the gaurdmen crashed into the clearing. The trained group of fighters advanced, swords held high in attack. Tomos lunged at them, his instinct taking over. A gaurdman took a swing at him; Tomos deflected the blow, returning with a parry of his own. This the gaurdsman dodged, but was not quick enough to evade the butt end of Tomos's weapon. The iron shod end of his pole weapon hit solidly with the gaurdman's head, sending his metal helmet flying. Tomos dove in for the kill, but stopped a moment short. For a brief amount of time his raw instincts fled. For a brief moment he saw his opponent not as a faceless enemy, but as a fellow human on the opposite side of the law, a human who had eyes, a nose, a mouth, expressions. Tomos shuddered, barely keeping a grip on his glaive. A muted curse passed over his fumbling lips. He only gained control again over his body as the stunned soldier swung his sword at Tomos. Soppily he blocked the sword, recieving a nasty gash on his arm and chest. Again the insticts of battle took him over. He swung his glaive in an arc, catching the gaurd in his unhelmed head. He looked around wildly for his next opponent.

Haven took off a guardsman with his arrow, a perfect shot, before the soldiers had surrounded them too close. He drew out a long hunting knife and went after their attackers.

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~*~ I am the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. ~*~

Marran turned at the sound of fighting. "No, no more blood shed." she said and hung her head.

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Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

Keith's face clouded quickly at Haven's remark that his change of mood was almost scary. "No" he replied in a serious voice "but I do think that we ought to laugh to make life easier and make things like death perhaps more acceptable." Although Maverick had dismissed him he hadn't set one pace back in the direction of their hideout.

Suddenly they were everywhere. The light of the torches reflected in their swords and it seemed like they were with many. Keith's usual smiling eyes grew dark and he felt that a complete other side of him was taking over - to survive. He rolled over on the grass to avoid the blow of his attacker's sword. Even before he could stand up he had to parry the strike of another. Sitting on his knees Keith blocked blow after blow, finally to jump on his feet and thrusting his sword in his opponent's stomach. He watched the man sink on his knees, emotionless. As he turned he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his thigh. Ignoring the pain and unaware of its cause Keith started a duel with another soldier, hoping that they wouldn't discover their hiding place.

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O children, lift up your voice, lift up your voice,
Children, rejoice, rejoice..



It doesn't matter you don't believe in God, He believes in you.

{OOC//Ok, I'll just leap in.}

Rubin Blackwood was lost.

Her bay horse started at the slightest change of the shadows, the slightest noise that the young lady couldn't hear. She reigned the mare in to a stop, looking around wildly.

For a moment, her sanity returned and she began to wonder just why she had fled in the first place. What was she thinking? That the Shadin would just apologize? She began to laugh out loud at that idea.

Her brother, Savart, had been killed in the recent battle. She flinched involuntarily; that pain was still too fresh to think about. But she couldn't keep her mind from wandering. Krigaren, the man who had stolen her heart, had ran off to join the Shadin. He had also reportedly died in the battle. Rubin didn't know what to think anymore. Who was right? The bandits, or her uncle, the king? A tear fell down from her onyx eyes and down her olive-toned cheek.

Suddenly her horse tossed her head back and let out a loud whinny. Rubin tried to shush her, then dismounted and crept foreward to see what was wrong. In retrospect, it was a bad move. The forests of LaKirem are not friendly to an unarmed lady. Her clothes proved rather cumbersome; a fold of her crimson cloak snagged on a branch.

She had not walked foreward more than ten feet when she saw the battle. The Shadin and the king's men were fighting again. Rubin gasped, loudly, and froze with fear.

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and I'm still a dreamer, a believer
I've lost my faith in so many things but I still believe in You

((Esteleth, so you know, the lord or rather king, is the Gaurdian of Marran, so Rubin would know her.))

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

{OOC//Yeah. I was just thinking that after I posted...is that alright with you?}

_________________

and I'm still a dreamer, a believer
I've lost my faith in so many things but I still believe in You

((Of course, and like I mentioned, her brother, his best friend, and the man she was forced to marry were killed, if you want, you could have a one of the two that isn't Marran's rother, to be your brother if you want.))

_________________
Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

A wild cry tore from Haven's throat as the guards surrounded them, his thick blade ripping the life from a soldiers chest. His face and clothes were already splattered with blood, his raven black hair drenched with sweat. The odds were rough, about 12 to 4... Difficult, but not impossible, he calculated.

He cried out in pain as a sharpness gouged his side from behind him. Coward! He spun on the guard, driving an arrow through his throat with his bear hands, eyes gleaming with a blood lust that demanded to be fed.

_________________


~*~ I am the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. ~*~

Rose shot arrow after arrow, adrenaline rushing through her veins, and something else. Buck fever. She had had it plenting of times before when hunting. It's that feeling of sickness and shakiness that comes split seconds before or after a kill -no matter what you're killing. An arrow hit it's mark, then another. One missed, but hit a soldier behind her target, killing it instead. Now the string started to bite Rose's fingers. Never had she shot so many arrows at one time in such a quick succession before. That didn't bother her, what she did worry about was...

The woman cursed under her breath. Out of arrows. The soldiers were too close now anyway. Rose put her bow away, and pulled out two daggers that had been at her belt. Stealth was her best weapon now. When a soldier lounged at her, she dodged quickly and turned to stab him in the back, right on the spine, rendering him paralized.

Rolling to the side, Rose just missed being decapitated, and in the same movement of getting off the ground, did a round-about kick to his stomach, then kneed him in the head, knocking him out. Turning around she threw a dagger at another soldier, getting him in the leg. He cursed at her, pulled the dagger out and threw it back.

It was headed straight for her head, and Rose barely moved out of the way. Her cheek was cut, and so was some of her bangs. And the dagger was lost somewhere in the scramble of fighting bodies. Gritting her teeth, she jumped ontop of the soldeir, cutting him across the chest, before standing and looking for another target...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Ronin watched in surprise as the guards charged into the clearing, their weapons swinging at the group. He unsheathed his long knife and brought the hilt down hard on the nearest opponents head. The blow was so hard that the man's head split open. He fell to the ground, lifeless.

Ronin turned from the guard impassively, there was too much going on to concentrate on the man he had just cut down. He watched his companions closely making sure that no one got too close while they were otherwise occupied.

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Heavens no. Hell Yeah.


Set 1: Nurr | Set 2: Me

Haven bumped his back into Ronin's mid-fight, breathing heavily. He finnished off his opponent before turning to his companion with a crooked grin. "Looks like we've managed to even the odds a bit," he noted breathlessly.

It was true, only a scarce handful of soldiers remained. Taking in the sight of their slain comrades, they turned tail and fled. Haven notched an arrow to his bow and took off one of the runners, then another. "Rose!" he shouted, giving her the signal to pick off the last one, which was closer in her range.

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~*~ I am the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. ~*~

Durring the rest of the fight, Rose had gotten some of her arrows back. The others were either ruined to the point of never being used again, or couldn't be found. She noticed they were fleeing, and heard her name being called. Quickly she turned her head, followed Haven's eyes and nodded. In seconds her dagger was at her belt, and bow was at hand. A red fletched arrow was notched and drawn back. With a twang, it went flying into the back of the head of the last of the guards.

For a moment she just stood there, stunned, then whirled around the examine the field. Corpses layed in a blanket in the clearing. Rose took a deep breath to shake off the shaking from the adrenaline. It was then she realized the wounds she had recieved. Not only was there a cut on her cheek, but also a small gash on her fore-head, a cut on her back by her left shoulder blade, a small gash in her right leg, and the fingers on her right hand were bleeding from the accessive shooting.
"Not bad for my first battle, I guess," she mumbled to herself, holding her fingers against her tunic to stop the bleeding...

_________________

(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08