The Tiran Wars: Liberty, at all Costs

[DeletedUser28032]

"Necromancy...that's what this has to be...a trap for anyone returning...the magi know we're here...we need to move!"
No sooner had the words left Joshua's lips that the tramping of booted feet could be heard making their way towards them.
She'd never entirely trusted Zandar, too many things just hadn't added up in her mind and when all you had to do whilst walking the long, desolate desert dunes was think then you had a lot of time to dwell on mistrust and yet she hadn't expected this.
Shying away from the falling days old corpse of Zandar Mei suppressed the fear rising up within her, she hated blood magic, hated it with all her heart but she'd already panicked once in its presence and she wouldn't do it again.
"Quickly you need to get moving! I'll try and slow them down" she said taking several steps in the direction the oncoming feet before dropping to her knee's, her palms flat against the tunnels floor. As the words echoed out of her mouth in a constant and incomprehensible litany, the floor and walls around them began to shake; causing century’s old dust to fall around them.
Masonry cracked as the roar of grinding stone rose to a near deafening pitch, Mei silently prayed that the others had gotten far enough away as the first soldier rounded the bend, dressed from head to toe in mail and surcoat he must be boiling wearing all that armour? Mei thought to herself only to realise that the dead didn't sweat, nor did they die of thirst...However they did die if falling masonry was fall atop of them.
A slab of sandstone the size of a horse crashed down onto the floor causing Mei to jump in fright, breaking her concentration, not that it would stop the roof from falling in even if she had wanted to.
Scrambling back onto her feet Mei made for the door as debris fell around her, a cacophonous crash followed closely by a tidal wave of sand and dust told her that the tunnels roof had fallen in behind her and was close on her heels Please let me make it...please!

 

[DeletedUser]

Thorin ran down the tunnel before pausing, why hadn't he volunteered to hold back the soldiers of the Magi? surely he couldn't let some eastern sorcerer girl do a warrior's job.
these thoughts were pushed out of his head as he heard the tunnels collapsing behind him, he turned and could see Mei running down the tunnels towards him, she wasn't going to make it, with all his strength, Thorin ran forwards towards her, quickly he grabbed her and threw her down the passageway.
a large piece of the roof fell down next to him. now time to worry about his own safety, quickly he unbuckled his shield from his back and holding it above his head, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, he could hear the sandstone rocks crashing onto the shield, knowing that each one could have killed him.

 

[DeletedUser]

"Joshua! I hope you have a plan!" Ral called to the swordsman as they moved quickly down the hallway. Joshua and his late friend had revealed little of their plans once inside the hall and so Ral and the other companions were simply following in their footsteps.

The roar and crash of falling stone finally came to an end behind them. Mei lay upon the ground, where Thorin had thrown her and the barbarian himself stood just in front of the final slab of stone that had fallen. Alexandria helped Mei to her feet, as Ral and Joshua made their way forward.

His sword was a reassuring weight in his hand, Ral held it in his right hand, ready to bring around if danger appeared. "Joshua-" Ral's words were cut off as the door the pair were passing was flung open, smashing into his forehead. Ral could barely see through the haze of red that flooded his field of vision, as the cut upon his forehead oozed blood, but he could see the armor clad figure stepping out of the doorway just in front of him.

Ral's sword came around in a flash, the blade of his family cut through the metal shin guards of the undead soldier as easily as pulling it from it's sheath. Off balance the undead stumbled to the side, Ral pushed forward with his shoulder, pushing the thing over, but not before one of Alexandria's arrows sunk deep into the undead's breastplate. As the thing went down, Ral's sword pierced the undead's throat just about the plate. The renegade nobleman twisted the sword inside the thing's neck.

The creature kicked a few times, before falling silent. Ral rested both hands on the pommel of his sword, wiping some of the blood from his face-enough to see clearly again. "As I was saying. Where's the queen?"

 

[DeletedUser28032]

She lay gasping on the floor, the wind totally knocked from out of her lungs after hitting the ground with such force "He...he threw me....He actually threw me" she said in a shocked voice as Alexandria lifted her back onto her feet with Mei staring with stunned disbelief at Thorin.
A pair of large ornate doors suddenly flew open catching Ral in the head as the armour clad undead advanced through the doorway to engage the still dazed Ral in combat.
It was as his blade clashed with that of the undead that Mei spotted a second entering the corridor, with the area too confined to risk casting any spells Mei fell back on her knowledge of the martial arts of her homeland rapidly striking the creature with locked fingertips in such a way that had it been a living foe it would have collapsed in a twitching heap.
Yet to Mei's horror she found the undead immune to the effects of striking certain pressure points causing her step away hurriedly as its blade swung low in an attempt to open her stomach.
Sensing that something more drastic was required to take down these infernal creatures she raised her hands to the left side of her face Mei clapped breifly before lunging for the creatures throat as her palms super heated in the same manner in which she'd dealt with Joshua's wound back in the caves.
Smoke and the smell of charring flesh rose out from between Mei's delicate fingers causing her to wrinkle her nose in disgust as the thing twitched in her grasp, only releasing it when she was satisfied that it wouldn't cause her anymore trouble.
"We need to keep moving before more these things arrive" she said watching as the thing she'd just killed fell to the ground how many more of these...abominations could there be? and more importantly how much longer could she continue to figth them before becoming completely exhausted?

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Joshua was trying hard not to go into shock. He had known the two men Ral and Mei had killed...again...they had been palace guards. Doing his best to keep himself under control, he croaked, "The throne room...even if that's not where the Queen herself is, the person in control will be up there and we can find out where she is from that...like I said before we need to run down the hall we come out of and into a side corridor behind a tapestry. Halfway down that is another hidden door that has stairs that lead to the top of the structure and the throne room. I'll lead you all down the right path and get the hidden door open when we get there. The faster we move, the faster we can get this done." So saying, he drew Audhulma. "This sword...an heirloom of my family...it's been said that it has...unusual...abilities against the undead...revenants and the like. I guess I get to find out if that's true now..."

Joshua led the way up the rest of the stairs and pushed open the exit to lead them into the 3rd floor. He stuck his head out, then ducked back as a sword attempted to slice him. "Revenant..." he muttered before leaping out in full. He swung Audhulma, which sent out a brilliant beam of light that seemed to explode as it hit the revenant. "Wow." he said, holding his sword out in awe. "The beam alone took out two of them farther down the corridor...I guess the story was true, eh? Let's go!"

 

[DeletedUser]

"what else did you think i was going to do?" Thorin growled in response to Mei's stunned expression. honestly, some people...

Thorin looked down at the remains of the undead that had attacked Joshua. it had been reduced to a fine white dust. nothing else remained.
for once, Thorin was surprised, what kind of magic was imbued in Josh's sword?
they continued running up the stairs, only pausing when half a dozen undead blocked their way, and they were quickly despatched.
eventually they reached the entrance to the throne room. "so do we just burst in, or do you want to do something stealthy?" Thorin asked Joshua.

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Joshua thought for a few precious seconds. "We need to keep whoever is in charge here alive so we can figure out where the Queen is. However, aside from that, the only plan I can think of is to stay alive. The leader is likely someone who lived in Jehanna that the magi corrupted...they wouldn't have their own leaders here as they also have their accursed tower. I'll point out anyone I recognize that isn't a revenant and we'll keep them alive until we know who's who. Not a perfect plan, but it's all I've got. Ready?" When he had gotten a go-ahead from everyone, he opened the door and led the charge in, yelling something in his native language so fast only a native would have been able to understand him.

The defense in the room wasn't as heavy as it could be as it consisted mainly of revenants, defined by the lack of expression on their faces. Joshua couldn't see any magi, but that didn't mean there weren't any. The defenders seemed momentarily shocked by the sudden entrance, and Joshua took advantage of the tension to look for anyone that wasn't a revenant. Then he saw him...sitting on the Queen's rightful throne at the end of the room. A man with darker red hair cut relatively short watched them, a derisive sneer on his face. He seemed a hard man, and his weaponry was not that of a Swordmaster, consisting of upper body armor, a large double-bladed axe tucked neatly inside a shield that was designed to cover his entire lower body. "Caellach," Joshua growled angrily. "That's him, there. Keep him alive." With that, the revenants moved forward. The fight for Jehanna Hall had truly begun.

 

[DeletedUser]

"Good luck." Thorin growled. hefting his Dane Axe high above his head, he let out a roar and charged straight into the nearest undead warrior.
he swung his axe around, and two heads were flung to teh floor.
out of the corner of his eye Throin could see the bright light coming from Joshua's sword. slicing through the revenants, as Joshua called them.
Thorin snapped back to the dead facing him. he swung his axe at the lower torso, and he cleaved the undead in half. another undead soldier stepped forward, and swung a sword at Thorin, the blow struck his left arm, slicing through the cloth and striking a deep wound.
Thorin gritted his teeth at the immense pain, he was a Norseman, pain meant nothing.
with an almightly battlecry he swung his axe again. slicing the undead in half.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Mei followed the others into the main hall as the door was violently kicked open by Joshua, understanding perhaps one in every ten of the words that he shouted and some of those that she did manage to translate caused her to blush.
The Main hall was long with large orantely carved pillars running down each side of the room with a throne sat upon a dais at the far end upon which stood the dark haired man called Caellach with a look of smug satisfaction on his face.
With a roar the northman dived headlong into battle, his axe easily cleaving a path through the walking dead that stood between them and the throne. A side door suddenly flew open as more revenant began to enter the hall dressed in a mix of Tiran and Jehennan armour as they silently moved in for the kill.
Rasing her hands Mei all but screamed the incantation as long stream's of lightning flew from her exteneded fingertips striking the nearest's shield, had it been an arrow he would have been saved but all it achieved was to allow the lightning to conduct and bounce from his shield to his armour and then on to those closest to him.
The stench of burning flesh once again greeted her as four of the abominations fell to the ground, their hair and clothing ablaze.
A flash of green closely followed by shouted command caused Mei to spin round narrowly avoiding the bolt of energy hurled her way by the blood mage an evil grin spreadin across his narrow face as he descened the dais where he'd been standing unnoticed beside Caellach.
The man seemed to be no older than thirty a junior member judging by his robes no doubt left to maintain the revenants guarding the hall whilst his more senior colleagues went about their business elsewhere.
Standing a hundred metres or so away from the Mei the magi bowed his head in her direction with both hands held palm up towards the ceiling, gritting her teeth Mei returned the gesture and then with eyes firmly fixed upon each other the two magi began to cast.

 

[DeletedUser]

Ral nodded to Joshua, as he gave the instructions to kill all undead-but to leave all those still living alive. Moving his gaze from the door, Ral looked backwards into Alexandria's eyes; he spoke volumes with his eyes-things he would never be able to say in front of his companions. With a slight tip of his head, Ral asked his love to stay as far away from the fight as she could and to run if things went sour, she shook her head.

Joshua kicked open the door with strength that seemed impossible for his slight frame. A pair of undead that were standing to either side of the great set of doors were knocked aside, their weapons sliding away from momentarily numb hands. As Joshua and the barbarian hurled themselves towards the ranks of undead standing in guard of the throne, Ral rounded the corner and pulled his sword from its place upon his back.

Suddenly, Ral noticed that his sword was stuck inside its sheath. With no time to unstick the blade- the nobleman smashed the undead upon the vulnerable portion upon the back of the neck. The undead's head smashed forward onto the hard stone floor and he moved no more.

With her bow in her hands, Alexandria stepped inside the throne room and hauled back on the string; pulling a pair of arrows back. The arrows flew from her bow and a pair of undead crumpled to the ground, an arrow sprouting from their armor. The bard stepped to the side, just in time to miss a battleaxe that would have taken her head from her shoulders. Almost too fast to follow, Alexandria dropped her bow and reached around to the small of her back.

A pair of daggers glittered in her hands, as she stepped inside the battleaxe's huge arc and stabbed under the undead's breastplate. As the corpse spit up black blood from his cracked lips, Alexandria stepped away from the blood before slashing both blades through the breastplate, which parted like a fish through water.

Ral moved into the fray, fighting alongside Joshua and Thorin, moving with them towards the throne and the blood mage that stood beside it. If Mei could hold the mage down long enough for the warriors to reach it, then they could effectively stop the undead, who were-even as the battle raged-charging into the throne room from every possible direction.

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Joshua set himself in motion like he had never done before. He leapt from one enemy to the next, each swing of his sword felling any undead near him as Audhulma again emitted a blast of light whenever it struck revenant flesh. The few times the bolts caught a living person they passed through harmlessly. It was clear its odd ability was completely limited to the revenants. After dispatching a series of foes in several quick swipes, he jumped backwards, landing near Thorin and Ral. "We need to get that mage! Let's head in that direction exclusively, rather than engage every attacker that comes against us. You two go after the mage, I'll cover your backs so you can focus on clearing the way forward." He turned around without waiting for an answer, frowning slightly.

In order to efficiently defend his fellow warriors' backs, he had to abandon his normal fighting style as leaping about would leave his friends open to an attack. He'd have to return to a more 'hack and slash' method, which Audhulma wasn't exactly suited for. Still, he had to do it, or else risk letting one of them die. He stabbed at a nearby revenant, recognizing the face right as it exploded, the burst of light disintegrating it and the foes around it. Shaking with suppressed sorrow and rage, Joshua couldn't help but wonder how many of his friends could possibly be alive with this number of revenants. Still, he fought on, knowing it was kill the undead bodies of his countrymen or die.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Fire leapt from Mei's fingertips to crash into the encoming wall of ice smashing it to pieces and showering those nearby with rapidly melting shrapnel. The Duel felt like it had lasted for an eternity as spell met counterspell as the two magi battled to out think or more often than not overpower the other.
A metallic scream suddenly emerged from Mei's throat as the blood mage hurled the shrapnel from the spell she'd countered only seconds before towards in a blizzard of razor sharp hail stones only to be deflected away by a sudden gust of wind shredding a pair of revenants who had gotten too close, Mei hoped that her friends knew enough to keep back so as to avoid become collateral damage, the ground between them had already become cracked and blackened from the ensuing duel.
But alas it would appear that self preservation wasn't on the minds of Thorin and Joshua as they battled their way towards the Magi. An evil grin played accross the gaunt facce of the man opposite her as he turned to hurl a ball of flame in their direction, Mei acted quickly throwing a counter spell that caused the ball to roar over their heads, however the spell had served its purpose.
Having distracted Mei the blood mage had just enough time to strike, the ball of energy catching the young mage on the shoulder causing her to pirouette five fett into teh air before crashing to the ground.
The world span and her shoulder screamed with agonising pain as she battled to both rise and stop the surge of nausea I can't feel my arm... she thought to herself absently as the thought drifted lazily into the forefront of her mind. Slowly fumbling around with her left hand like a drunk searching for a dropped coin Mei located her right arm, breathing a sigh of relief when she discovered it was still attached to the rest of her as a blurred figure suddenly came to stand over her. Staring stupidly upwards mei suddenly realised that what she was eeing would most likely be her death as the figure slowly came into focus as a revenant, its axe poised above her and all she could do was stare up at it...well at least it would be quick...or at least she hoped so.

 

[DeletedUser]

Alexandria reclaimed her dropped bow and looked up in time to see another undead guard rush at her, his sword shoved out in front of him-intending to run her through. The bard rolled backwards on her hands, her boots slammed into the undead's chin with enough force to break teeth, as her legs went over her head. She pulled an arrow from her quiver in time to draw and fire, the undead assaulting her fell to his knees-an arrow shot directly through his throat.

Looking over to her friend, Mei, she noticed that undead towering over the mage. There was no time to take another arrow and draw it. Desperation drove Alexandria to run towards the undead she'd just slain-still on its knees trying to pull the arrow from it's windpipe. With almost unnatural grace, Alexandria stepped up onto the first undead's shoulders and launched herself bodily at the revenant menacing Mei.

Alexandria led with her right foot, stepping directly into the axe's swing. Standing atop the revenant; holding onto the battleaxe's grip with one hand Alexandria wrapped one of her shapely legs-toned from years of dancing and performing- around the undead's head and threw herself over his shoulder. The sudden lurch put the revenant off balance and it fell to the ground, like a ton of bricks, in time to gasp a final time before Alexandria moved her legs in such a motion that snapped the monster's neck.

"Mei! Are you injured?" Alexandria cried, as she fought out from under the undead, which had collapsed upon her. The bard crawled over to her friend "Mei?" she coughed.

Joshua was not trained in the savage combat of shield and sword, his style was much more suited for engaging single opponents in a duel setting-not smashing headlong into a group of undead who felt no pain. This was why Thorin and Ral- both trained in the art of savagery- moved forward through the press of bodies, making a path for the swordmaster to follow.

A spear was thrust towards Ral's face, but was a few inches off and instead of impaling him it gouged a bloody furrow across his left arm. Ral reached up with his injured arm and grasped the wood of the spear, cutting in low with his sword. Intestines and other such rotting organs spilled from the gaping wound in the revenant's stomach, and Ral gained control of the spear, which he threw back to another of the undead.

Ral looked around for a shield-which he found. With his family's blade in his right and the shield in his left, Ral pushed forward until the group were a few steps from the blood mage. The nobleman slammed his shield into the face of an oncoming undead, breaking bone and separating cartilage. "Joshua!" he yelled, going to a knee and presenting his back for the swordmaster to step on and launch himself towards the blood mage "Now, Joshua!"

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Joshua was becoming rather frustrated. His training made him consider leaping aside every time a weapon was thrust at him. In order to protect his friends and allies, though, he had to stay where he was. This was incredibly difficult for him, and he only narrowly had avoided major injury several times. He had several gashes on his arms though, not life threatening, but painful. He was beginning to feel as though it was hopeless when Ral yelled to him. Spinning sharply around he took in what Ral's plan was in the blink of an eye. Not wanting to yell back and perhaps alert the mage, he instead took off as fast as he could. He stepped once on Ral's back, pushing off as lightly as he could to avoid accidentally hurting Ral, yet hard enough to get great forward momentum. The mage saw him coming and raised his hands. A blast of fire launched at Joshua, who was forced to twist sharply in midair to avoid it, although his left side was singed. Joshua hardly felt it though, as his entire mind was focused on the man who was controlling this undead army. He swung his sword in a great arc and neatly decapitated the mage, then fell heavily to the ground, rolling to extinguish the fire. All that remained now was to make sure the revenants fell with the death of their master and to grab Caellach before he got away.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Her vision swam in and out of focus and the sounds of battle sounded as if they were happening miles away instead only a few feet.
The revenant had disappeared from to be replaced by Alexandria...i must have blacked out she thought hazily to herself as her friend knelt beside her looking extremley worried almost to the point of being scared.
Slowly turning her head, her teeth gritted against the pain Mei examined the mess that was her right arm, the sleeve of her Kimono was gone, incinerated in the blast exposing a huge swathe of of horribly burnt flesh running from her shoulder down to her elbow, the shoulder itself was swollen and twisted making her grateful for the lack of sensation she felt there.
"I....I think....I think my shoulders dislocated....you'll have....have to put it back in for me" she wheezed forcing herself to concentrate on Alexandria the last thing she wanted was for her to black out entirely.

 

[DeletedUser]

The blood mage's head rolled obscenely across the ground, splattered with the black and red blood of revenant and human alike. Around the head, those revenants who still pressed in against the companions grew lifeless once more-their dead eyes rolling up in their sockets even as their bodies grew limp. Like so much spoiled beef the remaining undead fell to the ground, their spirits finally laid to rest after such torment.

Alexandria, tears in the corner of her eyes from thinking of the pain Mei was in, nodded gravely. The bard thought back over the years; to a simpler time-before Ral's father- when Ral had told her about much of the training his father put him through. Alexandria tore a flange of leather from her clothing and put it between Mei's teeth, patting the mage upon the cheek in a loving gesture "Bite down on this, I've never done this before."

Caellach had grown pale, as he watched the mage's head roll across the floor and come to rest in front of the throne. The man looked like a dog who had just felt the tug of his owner's chain- defeated. Ral looked the man in the eyes and saw this; the renegade nobleman knew what Caellach would do almost before the usurper himself did.

Reaching out with his right hand, the usurper pulled at the regal drapes that adorned the wall behind the throne and pulled it down. Great ribbons of cloth floated down and ensnared any who stepped clumsily, as Caellach pulled a double bladed axe from behind the throne itself and hurled it towards the companions. Ral threw himself to the ground-just in time to listen to it whistle over the top of his head and embed itself into the body of one of the fallen revenants. With nothing else to do, Caellach jumped from the throne and ran towards a set of double doors that were flung wide.

Alexandria did not count down to the violent twist that was required to pop Mei's shoulder back into its socket. She simply took hold of her friend's hand-stroked the soft skin of the mage's hand for a moment- before unexpectantly putting her boot into Mei's armpit and twisting the arm back into place. The arm slid into socket with a sickening crunch that brought tears to the bard's eyes. She immediately dropped to the floor and put her hands to the mage's cheek, asking frantically "Is that better, Mei?!?"

Joshua, Ral and the barbarian gave pursuit to the traitor Caellach. The man didn't make it far. As he passed through the double doors, Caellach turned to the right and ran down the opulently furnished hallway. Ral entered the hallway behind him, already unclasping the shield from his arm. Balancing on the balls of his feet, Ral dropped his sword and held the shield in his right hand. He threw the shield forward, committing all of his weight to the toss that sent the heavy shield spinning through the air straight towards the fleeing usurper.

The shield knocked the feet out from under the man, there was an audible crunch as the shield shattered bone. Caellach fell forward onto his face, uttering a scream of agony that ran throughout the entire hall. A moment later, Ral's voice was heard "He's not going anywhere anytime soon!"

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Joshua stood up, the fire extinguished, just in time to see Caellach flee. That was unlike him, although he assumed that it had to do with the overwhelming odds. He gave chase with Ral and Thorin, and grinned ferociously when Ral brought him to a stop. He ran up over to the fallen man, and looked down on him, shaking his head. "Why Caellach?" he asked.

"The pay was good." was the response, spat through gritted teeth.

"You filthy sellsword. I should have known you were no good the moment I met you in that mercenary group." Joshua turned to his companions. "Caellach and I know each other from some time back." he explained. Returning his gaze to Caellach, he continued. "My friend here," he gestured to Ral, "is quite skilled in the arts of torture. Either you tell us where Queen Ismaire is now and live with a broken bone or two, or let him go to work." Caellach glanced at Ral, then looked back, remaining silent. "Are you truly going to resist?" Joshua laughed. "How unlike you. You've always conceded the point when you couldn't win."

"I know who and what you are, Joshua," Caellach rasped. He grinned as Joshua blanched. "It would be oh so easy to tell your friends here. Of course, owing to the circumstances, you'd have to tell them soon enough."

Joshua scowled deeply, then asked, "Where. A hidden passageway? The magi tower? The palace dungeons?" He stopped for a moment, then grinned. "Ahh...the dungeons...I could always tell when you were concealing something." He looked to Ral and Thorin. "Do with him what you will. I'll get the Queen." Without waiting for an answer, he dashed off, ducking through a tapestry and down a side corridor.

 

[DeletedUser]

Thorin walked over to the wall and sat down against it, he looked at his left arm.
it was a deep wound, only a few inches before his elbow.
"Ral, got any spare cloth? those undead gave me a little scratch on my arm." Thorin said.
he rested his axe against the wall, and drew out his sword. watching Caellach.
Thorin wandered what he had meant, what was it the traitor had said?
"I know who and what you are, Joshua," ah, that was it. and what else? "It would be oh so easy to tell your friends here. Of course, owing to the circumstances, you'd have to tell them soon enough."
now what did that mean? Joshua had looked unhappy when Caellach had said this. so that meant it wasn't just meaningless words to sow doubt into the minds of his companions.
Thorin made a mental note to ask Joshua sometime.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Mei bit down on the piece of leather giveb to her by Alexandria "Bite down on this, I've never done this before." She had said, Mei had and she knew that it really hurt and although her arm was currently without sensation she feared that wouldn't be the case for very long.
There was no count down, no anticipation of the approaching pain just a sudden wrenching sensation followed by a flood of agony as her shoulder returned to its proper place with a sickening crunch, Mei screamed her teeth sinking deep into the leather as her vision starred. The screaming must have startled Alexandria as she released Mei's arm very quickly allowing Mei to roll onto her side cradling her injured arm quietly sobbing to herself.

She wasn't sure how long she had lain like that, her arm felt as if it was on fire, her shoulder a solid agonising lump. Slowly Mei struggled back onto her feet, pausing halfway up to battle the sudden surge of naseua and light headedness.
The room was now completely empty only the corpse's of recently dead and her friend Alexandria stil remained in the great hall "Where is everybody?" she asked surveying the carnage around her, the headless corpse of the blood mage lying only a few feet away.
Turning to face the bard she offered a weak smile of gratitude "Thank you....for....for helping me" her arm still hurt and probably would do for quite some time but she was still gratefull for her assistance, heavens knew she wouldn't have managed by herself.

 

[DeletedUser]

"Do with him what you will. I'll get the Queen." Ral looked over at Thorin, as he slid into a sitting position upon the opposite wall. "You'd better hope he finds the queen there, worm." Ral growled at the man, he'd lost most of his fight, but Ral could see the man slowly pulling himself away from the Northman and himself. His leg shot out and caught the usurper's remaining good leg with just enough force for the entire limb to go numb and cause Caellach to crumple in pain, holding on to his legs with both arms.

His sword pushed into the traitor's neck and Ral bent down low over his blade, hissing into Caellach's face "I would hold still if I were you." Whiter than before, Caellach nodded and resumed holding onto his useless limbs-tears streamed down his face and began soaking the front of his intricately tailored tunic.

"Ral, got any spare cloth? those undead gave me a little scratch on my arm."

Looking up from the traitor, Ral smiled at the northman "Yeah, give me a moment." Ral stabbed down at Caellach, who whimpered in fear as Ral's blade passed his body and impaled a great deal of his shirt on the stone floor. The nobleman tore a great deal of the usurper's shirt from his body and then cut the piece in half. Ral passed half to Thorin and used the other half to treat his own minor wounds.

"Where is everybody?"

Alexandria looked around the now vacant-but for the great piles of rotting corpses- throne room. She'd been so scared by Mei's arm that Alexandria hadn't paid any attention to where Ral and the others had disappeared to. "I know not, Mei, but let us go look for them."

Draping Mei's arm over her shoulder and taking as much weight as she could for the mage, Alexandria and Mei began to walk about the throne room. Alexandria's mind went back over the long months since she first met Ral -back to her days of working for her bardmaster who sent her numerous apprentices throughout the world. Her eyes looked about the blood stained hall that once held such grandeur, Alexandria looked over to Mei and smiled.

"I was to come here after my engagement with-" Alexandria bite her lip at the thought of Lord Belfast's cold hands- the temperature of ice whether clenched in a fist or groping and pinching in his rough manner "Ral's father." she finally croaked, before saying no more, her previous good humor having evaporated. The deep bruises and marks of whip and hand had only recently been erased from her body, the hurt was still so very close.