An Unusual Herd

[Djute]

The scowl on Hammond's face only seemed to deepen as he listened to Yukaida and Zach's responses, and Djute could see why. While they had some legitimate things to say, they didn't seem to quite to see what was wrong with what they were saying. The older man let out a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his hair, before saying, "Look, dragon, we can't bring a huge army through the plains because that would cause more trouble than it would solve. We can't risk angering the Tarvos and driving them into populated lands. That's why we travel in small numbers. We can hide from the Tarvos if we know where they're coming from. We don't have any option other than traveling on foot. It's not as if the guild owns any pegasi and there's no way I'd ride a wyvern," Hammond added, the agitation quite clear in his voice. He turned his attention to Zach and continued his tirade. "As for you, if you and my genius apprentice hadn't been standing around dumbfounded, maybe we could have actually stood a chance of not being seen. Were you getting ready to light smoke signals for them? I knew you two weren't ready for this expedition. I told Garoche, but he seems to have more faith in you than I do, heavens know why." Then, he seemed to remember something Yukaida had said and turned back to her. "And by the way," he started, lowering his voice to a tone that sounded no less menacing, "Don't you ever tell me anything having to do with these beasts isn't worth it. Just. Don't."

Hammond's last statement left a chilling silence, and for a few moments, he looked back and forth between the members of the group, almost daring them to meet his gaze or challenge him. Djute looked away the moment that iron cold stare turned towards him, but he decided to break the silence nonetheless. "Perhaps it's best if we just keep moving. Night isn't too far off and I'd hate to realize that we haven't left Tarvos lands come nightfall."

[Yukaida]

Yukaida listened to Zach's reasoning and nodded. It was a sound assessment. With their strength, she would have to fly very high to be out of range of those bows. That would likely be too high to be of any use. It seemed these humans had some wisdom in them, excellent.

And then the big one spoke, and Yukaida instantly realized that she did not like him. She pondered what he was thinking would happen, and how a leader could have gone into this without making certain his subordinates weren't certain on their parts. She'd certainly been told nothing about what they expected of her, and it would have been easy for her to cause the problem. Lack of communication and planning, and he took it out on those he instructed.

The last one that had done that to her had gotten a claw upside his head. Granted that had been one of her brothers, but the point stood.

She watched the ranting human with a mix of boredom and annoyance as he rounded on Zach, throwing a quick insult to Djute, and once again to her. His last comment actually made the corners of her fanged maw curve up in a rather unsettling grin. He wouldn't back down when it came to these creatures? Ah, there was that classic human stubbornness mistaken for drive. She knew this type, they would charge into a situation without any care for success or survival just because it was 'right'. Thankfully, such insufferable humans tended to live short lives.

Well, shorter than normal humans.

"Your concern is noted, human," she said. If he would address her by race, he clearly would not mind her doing likewise. "I would wonder why you call them beasts, when they can speak and reason just as well as you can. Your people get rather cross when mine call you animals. Never the less, this is your expedition, I have no desire to do anything save observe."

She let Garrett down from her back, as the danger had passed, and focused her thoughts. There was a brief hum of power, as her draconic nature was resealed into the small stone. She resumed her humanoid form, brushing a few strands of her violet hair out of her face. "But if your desire is not to be seen, I believe this is less conspicuous."

[Zacharia]

He scowled back under his hood where the shadow hid his face, but arguing the point with Hammond was clearly pointless. "You two?" They had met the day the expedition was leaving, had Garoche been keeping tabs on the boy without his noticing? It wasn't a matter of how, Karpath was usually never far from him. It was a matter of why he did it in the first place. The week before the trip, Zacharia didn't even know any of them existed, but he'd been in Arcadia for months. "Well, at least we're not dead..." he muttered under his breath, along with a couple of choice suggestions for where Hammond could go and shove a sword up.

"Sounds like a plan, Djute." he said as he felt his face start to cool a little. "If they could cover that much ground in minutes we're just sitting ducks out here." He was willing to just book it then and there so he wouldn't have to look at Hammond glaring at them for the rest of the evening. Only problem was he had no clue which way they went, he hadn't been looking behind them when Yukaida transformed and the rest of the group fled for their lives. "Could we get going then?" He looked at the young cartographer next to him. It took some skill to fight with a sword and armor at the same time, Hammond should've been glad to have another fighter there. You'll never get better without experience As for him, well.. nevermind. He shouldn't think like that.

[Djute]

A potential brawl seemingly averted, Djute let out a sigh of relief. It was bad enough that they had angered a race of half horse/ half human monsters. They didn't need to add each other to the list of potential enemies. With that mess of a conversation at least somewhat sorted out, they could turn their attention back to the important matter of finding their way back to the rest of the group. Djute reached into his satchel and retrieved the semi-completed map he had been working on the whole trip and unrolled it gingerly. He pored over its contents for a while, searching for a point where their path would intersect with that of Garoche and the others. After a few minutes, he noticed a section of the map that they had not had a chance to explore and he realized that, if they reached it in the next few hours, they could be waiting for the others with a warm campfire. Plus, it would give him a chance to sketch the rest of that area. After confirming it with Hammond, who answered him with a very reassuring noncommittal shrug, he turned back to the group and addressed them, making sure to avoid eye contact with Yukaida. "Alright, we've got a few hours of walking to do, but we should be safe the whole way. At least, I think. Anyways, I guess I'll lead the way. We've gotta this way," he finished, pointing off to the southwest, trying to hide how awkward he felt. He certainly wasn't a leader and it really showed. He just hoped he wouldn't have to lead them for long.

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The path they had taken had been a bit rough and more than once they had stopped to determine which way was the correct way to be traveling, but at last they had arrived at the meeting place. As it turned out, the path had led them to the top of a small hill that seemed to be an almost natural area to make camp. The forest they had traveled trough thinned out around the hill and there were several stones that seemed to have almost been placed deliberately to form a perimeter. The group had set up camp within the rocks and had set about to their individual tasks. Before long, night had fallen and it came time for someone to cook dinner for the rest of the group. As bad of a chef as Garoche was, Hammond was even worse, so the group decided it was best to let the mercenary try his hand at cooking. Amazingly, the food was not only edible, but also tasted rather good. Everyone gladly ate their fill and afterwards, they sat around the fire and listened to the man's tales of previous jobs he had taken. As he finished a particularly exciting tale, he looked across the others around the fire and said, "Well don't let me hog all the attention. Anyone else got any good stories?"

[Garrett]

For the most part, Garrett was rather quiet. You see he didn't really understand any of this business going on, it was a little too complicated for him to wrap his mind around. All this talk about observing and flying and mutual fear and whatever they were talking about. In his mind it was rather simple, perhaps childishly so but still simple all the same. They were in a position that without Yukaida, he would have died, so it seemed whatever the plan was it wasn't a very good one if it needed to rely on something no one could have predicted. Still he held his tongue because he knew better then to try and get involved in something beyond his understanding, his pride was still sore from earlier as well. As was his arm, to be quite honest, but sure enough eventually the amethyst draconic woman let him down after some time, and he made no sign of complaint. In fact it was beyond kind of her to carry him thusfar, he needed to thank her in some way. Still he managed to keep up in that way he always managed despite countless things working against him, frankly he was amazed that he could at times.

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It was later in the day, and somehow they managed to make it back to the rest of the group and they set up camp in what looked like the top of a hill. To be honest, the overbearing air that hung over the group never really dispersed. The near brush of death, the sudden introduction of a dragon, it was little wonder the journey was made mostly in silence. Even after they were able to put a lengthy distance away from their centaur friends, things were still quite tense. It may or may not have anything to do with wyrm that walked amongst them, but obviously no one would say such a thing.

Garrett on the other hand, was just silent out of nature. He didn't really talk much unless spoken to, and lacked the confidence in his own thoughts and opinions to voice them without provocation. That and the way he sort of brung up the back whenever they marched and his habit of keeping his self tucked away when they were in camp made most of the other people in the expedition not even realize he was there half the time. That's what he did this time as well, once camp had been set up he wasted no time getting some sleep. His entire body was exhausted, as was his mind and spirit. Only waking up long enough to make an appearance at dinner, which was surprisingly not the food he was expecting to have eaten. Hammond and Garoche try their hardest, so he'd never speak ill of their cooking prowess, but whoever made this appears to have had a bit more skill. It seemed the oppressive atmosphere had dissolved somewhat, people talking and swapping stories over dinner. The cleric didn't really have any stories to tell himself, today would probably be the first time anything story worthy had ever happened to him. So instead he ate his food away from everyone else, close enough to still hear what they were saying but not so near as to draw attention to his self. He prefered it that way.

[Zacharia]

After a long day of travel the food the mercenary cooked for them was perhaps the greatest gourmet he ever had in his life. The dark mage sat on the end of the group of five children (including Hester), next to Garrett. He poked at the fire with a stick as he listened intently to the mercenaries' tales of sadness and glory. It felt like he had really been there; but looking back on it the next day, he didn't recall much of the moving tale and it made him feel a little bad for the guy. He hoped the others had remembered it better. "Well don't let me hog all the attention. Anyone else got any good stories?" An awkward silence lingered over the camp, some of it thinking about the mercenary's stories, and some of it thinking about their own stories. Zacharia had an idea of his own story. He quickly raised his hand, like he was afraid someone would beat him to the punch. The mercenary pointed to him, done with talking for the night perhaps. Or his voice just hurt from going so long. "I don't have any super exciting stories about me yet, but I do have one or two that I bet none of you have ever heard before."

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"In a land far away from Elibe, there existed only two races. Man and dragon. They lived together peacefully, despite all their differences. But over the centuries, man grew proud of themselves, and thought they were higher than the dragons. They went to war against the dragons, lead by these eight generals with weapons that could match the dragons' magical abilities. To counter that, the dragons created these artificial dragons when their numbers started to thin out.." He gleefully gave a recollection of the Scouring, blissfully forgetting about Yukaida's draconic origin. Zach even created little figures out of the dark matter to demonstrate as he spoke. He wasn't focusing on them very well, and you could tell by the way a body part would occasionally float away from the figurines and disappear into the night sky. The story was about as innocently prejudiced as it was when he read it in a book, but it didn't matter that much. After all, it hadn't happened yet, right? If he said that it was the inevitable future, there was no way they'd believe him. It seemed pretty crazy to be honest. A thought occurred to him as he got to the part in the story about the Ending Winter. Unless something happened before then, Yukaida would make it to the Scouring, which wasn't even that far off in time from now. A century or two, at the earliest? It wasn't like he cared especially for her, but it was sobering to think that she could be killed just like that, especially after seeing her true form.

"Oh, whoops. Guess that did take just a tiny bit longer than I thought." A couple of them were starting to doze off. Who could ever do that when they were listening to such a riveting tale?!

[Yukaida]

Yukaida had listened to all the stories with rapt attention. The cooking had been quite good to her, but she didn't have much to compare it to. She ate quietly, listening to every mercenary tale or expedition they had to recount.

And then, Zach started talking. His story contained dragons, and spoke of a great war between them and humans. That, in itself, was a bit odd, but all right. The way he told the story, however, bothered her greatly. These were simple tales, like the ones you would tell a hatchling to keep it in the cave. Present some large, horrible monster to compel a child's obedience. Nothing wrong about a story like that, except that the dragons were the monsters here. Was this how they thought?

She listened quietly as Zach told his tale, gruesome and disconcerting as it was. Magic Weapons that powerful, destroying the balance of the world and all of this the fault of dragons? Did humans really think like this?

She phrased her question to Djute first, having already heard Zach's view on the matter. "Is that true, Djute? Do humans truly view my kind as monsters that only seek to bully and take?" Some of their actions might seem that way, but surely humans could not have forgotten that it was her kind that had kept them safe from the true monsters for generations.

Could they?

[Djute]

As Zach wrapped up his story, Djute had to admit, he was impressed. The young mage was quite the storyteller, and the magic puppets had been a nice touch, if not a little unnerving. They hadn't moved quite in the way humans did, and it made for a rather awkward feeling. In addition, while he hadn't found the story offensive, he had sneaked a glance at Yukaida during the story and she seemed somewhat upset. He couldn't blame her, to be honest. The way the mage had told it, it mostly painted the dragons as evil and the humans, who seemed to be mostly to blame, as the heroes. His suspicions were confirmed when she spoke up and voiced her concerns. Of course, she had addressed them to him, and was unsure of what to tell her. He barely knew his own opinion on dragons, let alone humanity as a whole. Still, while he had been in Arcadia, he hadn't heard anyone overtly hating dragons, so that at least gave him an inkling of what to say. He still wished that she had asked someone else, but he felt wrong outright ignoring the question.

Well... I don't really know. I don't... don't think like that, and I... I haven't heard... anyone talk like that, but... but maybe some people do. I... only saw a dragon... about a month ago, so... so..." Djute's voice trailed off. He wasn't sure of what else to say. It's not like he was some sort of expert on human dragon relations. And yet, he almost wished that he was, if only to make sure that Yukaida didn't get the wrong about humans in general. Even if most humans did think that way, it would do no good to create more of that kind of thinking.

[Garrett]

"Well that's not a very happy ending..." Garrett muttered to his self after the story ended, Zach probably had good intentions but the story he told was a bit on the depressing side. Killing almost all the dragons isn't really what he'd call a light hearted story, but he told it in such a way that it felt like the thought never even occurred to him. Yeah sure dragons and humans don't always get along, and they fight, it wasn't like they were evil or monsters. Yukiada saved his life earlier, and she was a dragon. She may be a bit different from them, like how she didn't understand why Garrett wrote in his journal, but she wasn't a bad person. Dragons probably weren't bad people either, did humans have to fight them? Why did they have to grow 'proud' and think of themselves better? It just made humans sound like a bunch of jerks, with dragons the victims.

The cleric stared at his food, wordlessly. He lost his appetite to be honest. He didn't really have much of one to begin with to be even more honest, but... He looked over at Yukaida, she said something to Djute and Djute replied in nervous tones. Her question was a bit depressing, but valid based on the story he just heard. Dj stuttered out his answer, and it wasn't much better. To be honest, until today dragons only existed in stories and tales to him. Yukiada was the first, but he just couldn't believe them to be as monsters. He held his tongue though, Yukaida asked Djute. Not him. It wasn't his place, and he doubted any of them cared for what he had to say about it.

So he sat there in a sort of awkward silence, not speaking up like usual. What could he say at a time like this? He's taking any suggestions.

[Zacharia]

After hearing Yukaida's reaction to his story, he immediately remembered just who was listening in on his story. He was immensely glad the flames' reflection hid his burning hot cheeks. "No, no, not at all I swear! It's just an old fable, it doesn't have anything to do with anyone's opinions! There's another part to it, y'know. I just don't remember it quite so well." To be honest he remembered it vividly, he was there. There when the rampaging dragon nearly tore through Bern, there when his parents and himself were evacuated from the wreckage, there when Illa. "This one happens a long time after the first story, see. There weren't many dragons left after the last story, and humans were also just beginning to recover. These young nomads were living out their day when a bandit raid gone terribly wrong ended up driving that group to near-extinction. The only survivors were a handful of people including a young red-haired man...I believe his name was Kenshiro? He honed his sword skills vowing to one day defeat the leader of the bandits, a wicked man named Hargus who could summon dark magic as well as he could cut someone in two with an axe..." This story was notably quicker, if not a bit lighter and softer to tone down the bad dragon parts for Yukaida. The puppets were also around about partway through the story, starting off at the point where Kenshiro and company got the Falcatta sword. He took particular care not to mention any of the ruling areas by name, only referring to them with child-like descriptions. He also glanced over the part where "the Frosty Kingdom" occupied the "Wyvern Kingdom".

"After the Great Bandit War, dragons of all shapes and sizes started inexplicably reappearing in the realm. Even though the humans were shocked that they even came back, they nonetheless welcomed them back into the land with open arms, eager to atone for their past sins. The end." He sheepishly tacked on that part at the end. The only thing close to anything he'd ever heard like that was a supposed mystical Dragon Village in Nabata surrounded by sandstorms and no one to ever go looking for it had come back alive. The desert wasn't so big now as it was in the Present Elibe, and definitely not as scorching hot. It was possible there could be one out there, but that would be an adventure for another day.

[Djute]

Djute looked questioningly at Zach as he quickly rushed to assure Yukaida that it was merely a story and that he harbored no ill feelings towards her. It was strange the way he responded, almost as if he knew something and had let a little too much slip. All was forgotten, however, as he launched into another story, this one much more upbeat and fair to the dragons portrayed within the story. Yet, despite the much happier nature of the story, its ending seemed forced and overly optimistic. Maybe that was really how the story ended and Djute was just growing cynical. Or maybe Zach was trying to hide something. For now, he would let his suspicions rest. It would do him no good to confront his friend in front of everybody, especially is he was wrong, and he really didn't want to ruin their friendship as it was only just beginning. Besides, story time was over, it seemed, as, just as Zach was nervously looking around the campfire to gauge the group's reactions, someone came striding up the hill. In surprise, Djute leaped to his feet, drawing his sword as he rose. His reaction was greeted with a deep, chesty laugh from the approaching figure. "Catch you off guard, did I?" came an all too familiar voice. As the man neared the camp, the light of the fire illuminated the smiling face of Garoche. "Good to see you're at least alert, boy. And it's good to see you've lead everyone here, though you're a day early. Did something go wrong?"

Djute was about to speak up, when his teacher interjected. "Things went wrong, alright. The Tarvos spotted us from a mile away and we barely made it out with our lives." The guildmaster cocked an eyebrow at Hammond, then turned to Djute, wordlessly asking for confirmation of this story. The cartographer blushed, but spoke up nonetheless, "Yes. It's true. We were unprepared and they caught us off guard." he said, then, noting Garoche was alone, added, "Where's Lars and Hester?"

"Working on tracking. I went ahead of them and left them trail to follow. They should be along shortly," Garoche replied, moving to take a seat by the fire. Djute realized after a moment that he was still standing with his sword drawn. He sheathed it, face flushing a bit, and returned to the log he had been sitting on. Silence fell over the camp, as no one seemed to be particularly anxious to tell another story. That silence, however, was broken a few minutes later, when, stumbling through the brush, came Lars and Hester. As they approached the camp, Hester appeared to be boasting about something, to which her teacher only gave a skeptical, but friendly look. The young pathfinder's apprentice caught sight of Djute and came running up, cocky smile lighting up her face. "Hey, Djute! I've got something to tell ya..." Whatever else she had to say was cut off but a loud thud that stopped her in her tracks. She fell to her knees as blood began to pool around her stomach. It was only now that she was hunched over on the ground that Djute noticed the arrow that had pierced her back. Almost in unison, everyone traced the trajectory of the arrow with their eyes, following it back to the edge of the forest. What stood their amongst the trees sent a wave of chills down Djute's spine and caused his stomach to sink into an endless pit.

There, on the edge of the forest, stood the skeleton of what had once been a man, clutching an ancient looking bow in one hand and reaching for an arrow with the other. And it was not alone. Almost as if from nowhere, several more skeletons appeared on the edge, some with bows, others wielding rusty swords or lances. ""Bonewalkers! Damn it all to hell!" Garoche shouted from behind him, "Hammond! Lars! We need to get them away from the camp, give the others time to run. Mercenary, you're with us too!" Hammond and the mercenary were on their feet in an instant, weapons at the ready. Lars however, simply stood there, mouth open, staring at where his apprentice lay hunched on the ground. Then, reality seemed to return to him, a fire lighting in his eyes as he followed after Garoche.

[Garrett]

Zach tripped all over his self when he started to tell another story, this one feeling more made up then the last. Especially the end, which really felt like a weak ploy to make it amicable towards dragonkin, Garrett stayed silent still. Then again that surprised no one, least of all Garrett. He sat around the fire with everyone else, but never really spoke. He was more like a fancy ornament then a living breathing part of this conversation. Still he was happy to be a part of it, even if he didn't really do anything. The feeling of camaraderie was just as important as actually being comrades. Especially to a sick little kid from the country who only just left home.

Djute jumped to his feet with a sword, holding their friend at bladepoint. He stood down of course, once he realized who it was. Dj was jumpy today, then again after what happened with those Tavros it was only to be expected. Regardless, Garoche was back and everything seemed to be going pleasant. Well, pleasanter considering how uncomfortable it was a minute ago. Garrett smiled, happy that the awkward situation dissolved into a somewhat less awkward one. At least the night was gonna be peaceful. Or well it would have been.

Hester had just shown up, and just as she began to talk she was silenced by an arrow in the back. While everyone followed where the arrow had come from, Garrett instead snatched his staff up from besides him and quickly burst into action. Or slowly burst, considering he was a slow guy and moving with a slight limp as well, it didn't matter that much though since they were all coupled together and he didn't need to move too far. He moved next to the injured woman's body, wincing as he stared at the wound in her back. Biting his lip he gripped the shaft of the arrow poking out of her flesh. With a swift tug he pulled the arrow free of her body, he cringed as the blood splashed over him, but it had to be done. He then took his staff and began to heal her, flesh knitting flesh, skin knitting skin, it was like the wound going in reverse as he watched it. It was in slow motion ever, the parts that where hurt last were healed first as the gash in her flesh from where the arrow pierced was closing and eventually the skin covered over the place a wound used to lay, leaving a small scar.

She wasn't dead, no, but even after being healed she might need some help moving. His staff wasn't that strong, and while it could heal wounds, it didn't erase them. Maybe if he had a mend staff, or he was a stronger cleric... Regardless she would live to see tomorrow and that was what was important. "Hey! Someone help me over here!" Hester simply moaned and groaned in pain, not saying much of use. From what he's heard, being healed isn't the most comfortable feeling imaginable. Even if the pain itself was gone, the memory of pain etched in your mind takes a little longer to come to terms with.

[Zacharia]

It didn't really click with Zacharia why Hester had stopped mid-sentence until he felt the small liquid spray on his back and she collapsed on the ground. Garrett sprung into action immediately, another thing that he wasn't expecting. By the time he was up and running the wound was near closing. It wasn't fully healed even when the wound close, despite what some may think. He stumbled as he tried to turn around while simultaneously trying to fuel his hand with dark magic. He landed on his rump and the magic exploded in his face, needless to say. In any other situation it would've been a good laugh for a minute or two, but the bones were the only things on his mind at present. A potshot at them would've been nothing but a distraction for the humans, that much he knew. It would've posed no threat to the enemies because as far as he knew that ran on dark magic. Assuming it would even hit, they were practically on opposite sides of the clearing at the moment. That skeleton had the devil's luck or something, how could it draw the bow without any tendons or muscles and get a lucky shot like that. While they were busy breaking nearly every law of equivalent exchange and physics, they must have decided to break a few more.

"Hey! Someone help me over here!" Garrett cried out, and seeing as no one else was saying anything, Zacharia would take the reins. "Yukaida! Go Dragon, pick Hester up, go, go!!" he babbled out as he jumped to his feet undeterred and ran into the woods before him. Or at least, he would've, before he realized he dropped his book several yards back. The mage did a practical 180 turn around and charged forward as the others ran. The bonewalkers charged; they had nothing to lose and they knew it. The perfect suicide squad.

An arrow whizzed past him and another quickly fired after it grazed his cheek and tore a hole in the backside of his hood. He bent down, grabbed the book, and hightailed it back into the woods, arrows from two particular annoying skeletons with full quivers shot again and again at him. Several pierced his cloak, but nothing hit him like the one that grazed his cheek, thankfully. He paused behind a thin tree, barely large enough to shield him to catch his breath as he held the book close to his chest. He took another look back from outside the tree. He couldn't see the teenagers (Yukaida included), but he could see the mercenary tearing through a skeleton with an axe. Zach would keep running, and meet up with the others in a bit. Nothing could set you on edge like running through a forest at dusk with skeletons roaming about; at least the mage had his book to protect him.

[Djute]

As the world screamed and fell apart around him, Djute simply stood by, mouth agape, and stared blankly at the body of his friend, unaware of whether she she still lived. A mixture of fear and shock held him in place and blood pounded in his ears. He was vaguely aware of someone shouting, but who it was, from where, and what they wanted he couldn't be sure. During the expedition he had always been somewhat aware of the danger that they were in, but now that someone was grievously wounded, the reality of it all hit him like a cavalry line in full charge. Yet, despite this disheartening revelation, he found himself frozen in place. That is, of course, until he was struck by an arrow. The tip of the arrow only grazed his side right beneath his chestplate, but it hurt enough to pull him out of his stupor. Suddenly the world came rushing back to life. The clash of metal rang out, and he realized that Garrett was now at Hester's side, his staff aglow as he worked his magic. He was shouting for help, but no one seemed to notice. He briefly noticed Zach running past, but the young mage was such a blur that Djute could not tell if he was in trouble. What he could tell was that Hester was in danger and he needed to get her somewhere safe. Dashing to her side, he waited as Garrett finished his work. It seemed to take forever, and all the while, he kept glancing off into the forest, making sure that none of the skeletons were coming this way. As soon as the cleric was done, Djute scooped up Hester into his arms. She was surprisingly light and disturbingly limp. Still, she was breathing and that fact alone reassured him enough to rise to his feet.

Djute scanned the edge of the forest, both looking for the direction Zach ran off in and also checking to make sure he wasn't about to run headlong into a skeleton. He caught a glimpse of what he thought was the mage's robes and took off running. It was a little awkward running with someone in his arms, but he found himself at the forest's edge in no time. As he passed the line of trees that marked the edge of the clearing, he looked back to see if Garrett had followed. While the cleric had not come into sight yet, Djute had a feeling that he wouldn't be far behind. When he turned back around, he nearly ran straight into Zach hiding behind a tree. He stumbled, but managed to maintain his footing and hold on to Hester. "Zach! There you are! We have to keep going! We need to find a place to hide while this all blows over!"

[Zacharia]

The blood in his skull was pumping so loud that he could hardly hear Djute in-between his struggles to catch a hold of his breath. He was still very much alive and so was the apprenticed cartographer, that was good. Hester looked deathly pale even without the fletching jutting from her torso. That was not good But-- "Whe-- Where's Garrett?" He wheezed a tad louder than he had intended. He wasn't worried about Yukaida, she could fly off for all he cared. He wasn't worried about Garoche, or Lars, or the mercenary, or anyone else. Garrett was missing, but it was tantamount suicide to go back and look for him. There was something else bothering him as well. Something so pressing it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "Neve-mind that, you right! Let's keep...goin'!" He panted and huffed and puffed as he rose to his feet. It was a big show, but none of it was faked. How come everything he did had to take so much energy away from him? His arms were fully covered in goosebumps now, but he couldn't pinpoint the source of this irritation. Until--there it was. "A low..keening kind of noise in the air, can you hear it?" He murmured to Djute so he wouldn't lose focus on the noise. "It's got a bit of a smell now too, a bit like...woodsmoke." The gears in his head were turning rapidly, trying to process this new sensation. "No, wait, I've got it now. It's kind of like a--"
--
The world exploded around them in a flash of colors he'd never seen or even dreamed of before. The trio had been flung to the side, landing on top of each other in a heap with Zacharia at the bottom. Djute's armor pressing him down into the ground was slowly suffocating him as he scrabbled out from underneath. Amusingly, the cartographer was still holding Hester up in the air like a sacrificial offering or the way Zach had managed to hold his book in a vise thus far. Without a word he wrested the girl from his grasp to allow him room to stand up, and noticed she was a lot lighter than she would've been back home in Bern. His muscles were a bit more..."refined?" now. The fact that she was as limp as a ragdoll helped that as well. It also helped for him to sidle out of the way of a burning branch that fell past him and nearly sent his clothes up in a blaze. The tree he'd been hiding in was a smoldering--no, crackling heap of fire and wood, and whatever happened it managed to set the surrounding trees ablaze as well. There really was no time to waste now, they needed to make tracks. If they had to run through a sea of burning trees to get to safety, so be it, he thought cynically as he recovered the last of his breath.