The Family Business [M]

[DragonSong]

"Oh, thank you!" She beamed toward him, clutching her staff a little tighter. "I--I promise, I'll be as little trouble as possible. I can be ready to leave as soon as you need! I, ah, I'd heard you might be...busy soon, I don't want to take more of your time than you can spare."

Maybe, just maybe, she could get him to confirm when exactly their attack was planned.

[MadEmperor]

If that had raised any red flags, he did a good job of hiding it. "No stopping the rumor mill, it seems," he said with a weary sigh. "Don't you worry your little head about it. If you leave within the day, you'll be ahead of any chaos we stir up."

[DragonSong]

She nodded again. "Understood." Shit. That sounded too martial. She had to hope it was more obvious to her than to him. "Thank you, serrah." She adjusted her grip on her staff and worried her lower lip again before asking, "Should I...wait outside the fort, then?"

[MadEmperor]

"Yes. An escort will be with you shortly."

He smiled with a wink, "Don't let my boys get away with any untoward comments. The young do get carried away."

[DragonSong]

"O-oh." Shyla swallowed, cursing inwardly. Just great. Well, she had got herself into this situation--she would just have to make sure it was worth it. "I'll...keep that in mind."

She gave a small smile to the direction of his voice and nodded again before ducking back out of the command tent. Without a guide this time, it took her a little longer to get to entrance of the fort than it had to make her way in.

Once she was outside again, she leaned back against the splintery wall and sighed, closing her eyes.

Felan would have got her message by now. She would lead her "escort" upwind of their camp, allowing the pack to scent them well in advance so they could set up an ambush.

[MadEmperor]

The three men that showed up to escort her didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about the assignment, but they didn't seem hostile either. They led her north in relative quiet, eyes alert for any possible danger. They even managed to fend off a mountain wildcat that got a bit too curious about potential prey.

But before the ambush could be sprung, the one in front stopped and said, "That ought to be far enough." Any guise of tolerance was gone, replaced by something predatory.

[DragonSong]

Shyla walked along with her escort in relative quiet, trying to ask a few nervous questions once or twice, but abandoning attempts at conversation when they seemed unwilling to give her more than single-word responses.

That was fine; it wasn't like she was trying to actually make friends with these people, just keep them at ease enough that they wouldn't be expecting Felan and his squad's attack.

Or at least, that was the plan.

Every single hair stood up on the back of her neck at the shift in her escort leader's tone. She'd drawn up short when she heard his footsteps stop, and shifted her grip on her walking stick subtly away from "used to aid in navigation" and toward "I know how to hit you with this and make it hurt".

"Far enough?" she asked slowly, still clinging to her "Millie" persona. Damn. Damn, damn, double damn.

This was not good.

[MadEmperor]

"This is as far as we go," he answered as he turned to face her. "We aren't risking our lives for some half-breed that we don't even know."

He grinned. "But we will be taking all your valuables, won't we, boys?"

The others chuckled as they rushed up in an attempt to grab her.

[DragonSong]

"Hey!"

Shyla skittered away from the sound of the approaching men, swinging her staff in a wide arc to clear the area in front of her--to someone familiar with such weapons, the move was done with far too much ease to not be practiced. "I don't have any valuables," she snapped, swinging her staff again. She raised her voice, hoping Felan or Riza or someone was close enough to hear. "You just stay back!"
 
This was bad. While she could fight, she'd never actually participated in a skirmish where her opponent was actively trying to harm her--practice bouts with the Howlers didn't count.

[MadEmperor]

"You have training," the next speaker observed.

"Well, boys, I think we have us a spy," the third said, eager for blood. "We definitely can't let her leave alive now."

A sword flashed in her direction from behind; the ringleader had somehow slipped around her. The others drew their own blades but held their attacks for the moment.

[DragonSong]

She knew where they all were, she could hear them, could pinpoint their positions. But the usual tactics a melee fighter would use to anticipate their opponent's next move weren't exactly available to her--she couldn't see a shift in someone's grip or the way they might telegraph a swing.

So her best option was to continue using her staff as a blocking weapon, sweeping it back and forth in quick, wide arcs that were more meant to prevent any of the three militia members from getting close enough to hit her than they were to cause damage of her own. It was why she'd trained with a staff, after all, even aside from its doubled use as a walking stick.

She just barely turned in time to avoid the strike from behind, and by the time she had the third was darting in toward her left. She pivoted, cracking her staff across something solid and earning a yelp of pain and a moment of respite as the three fell back a step and evaluated.

But she couldn't keep this up. She had to keep in constant motion, staff a blur around her, and there were three of them. She couldn't block every side at once.

[MadEmperor]

A blade bounced off of her staff, but the next blow came too quickly to completely avoid it. Pain blossomed as the strike opened up a gash in her side. It didn't feel all that deep; however, it was hard to tell in the rush of combat. They weren't going to give her a chance to find out, either.

[DragonSong]

A cry of pain burst from her, instinctive, and she gritted her teeth as her footing suddenly became more precarious. She could feel blood coursing down her ribs with every move she made, and years serving as the Howlers' field medic had her trying to evaluate the wound automatically.

But she didn't have time for that. The three swordsman pressed the opening that her now injured side afforded them, and she heard the whistle of metal through the air come far too close to her cheek.

She backed up one step, two. Another blow--she couldn't tell if it came from the same sword that had slashed her side or not--landed on her upper thigh. This one was deeper, and her leg threatened to buckle.

She knew if she went down, it was over. With three of them, pressing closer now, they would be on her before she could right herself.

[MadEmperor]

A menacing, furious snarl cut the air. "Get away from her!"

Felan rushed from the trees, tackling one of the men to the ground. He sank his teeth into the man's throat and tore it open with a spray of blood. He growled at the others as he rose, daring them to make a move.

[DragonSong]

Oh thank gods.

Shyla could have cried with relief, but she managed to keep the reaction under tight lock as she automatically fell back toward her packmate.

The two surviving swordsmen swore, and she heard their footsteps stumbling back in surprise and fear. Even those who knew the shifters of the mountains were often thrown by an Ulfar's appearance.

"Monster!" one of the men suddenly shouted, and charged forward toward Felan with his blade high.

Except now it was two against two--and Shyla knew Felan well enough that she could extend her Sight. "I need your eyes!" she called to the wolf as she reached out with that extra awareness.

It wasn't exactly a perfect system; Shyla's Sight allowed her to share another creature's vision, but she couldn't control it. She saw what Felan saw, whatever that happened to be, piggybacking onto his senses. It would have been easier--and clearer--if she could touch him, but the pitch and roll of battle didn't exactly allow for that.

Not to mention, since she was seeing through his eyes, she could only view the world from his perspective. Which meant she was watching herself fight, too. One of the main reasons she didn't typically use her Sight in combat situations was because it was simply more disorienting than fighting with her usual senses.

But she need an idea of where the two men were, just a better sense than the noise of battle permitted her. One to her right--there!

She cut off her Sight and snapped her staff into the man's throat. As he stumbled and choked, she spun and brought it down hard across his spine, sending him to the ground.

[MadEmperor]

"Careful to leave that one alive!" Felan called to her as he locked swords with the last ma. The wolfman's sword was larger, though, and with his physical superiority, there was no contest. Within moments, he had cut down the man who had first attacked Shyla.

Struggling to catch his breath, the survivor scrambled in an effort to get away from the monster the half-elf witch had conjured. "St--stay back!" he wheezed as he scrabbled back.

[DragonSong]

Shyla stalked forward and drove the butt of her staff down into the man's chest. "I'd stay down if I were you," she told him, teeth bared.

Turning her head slightly in Felan's direction, she offered a tilted smile. "Thanks, Fell."

It wasn't nearly enough, but it was the best she could do just now. She quite literally owed the wolf her life.

[MadEmperor]

Felan rushed over, checking her wounds like a mother hen. "Thank me later. Right now, we've got to get you patched up."

He howled, signaling the others to come running.

"Aeris is going to kill me for this. You know that, right?" He sighed.

[DragonSong]

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She sighed, trying to bat his hands away and then wincing as the gashes on her side and thigh protested. "Just gimme some bandages and I'll be alright," she amended in a grumble.

Smirking a bit, she added, "He's going to kill me first. If you're lucky."

She was so relieved he'd come, and still coming down from the adrenaline rush of the fight, that she didn't notice the way their last opponent was stirring until it was too late. She heard foliage crunch beneath him, realized what was happening, and her eyes widened and she tried to shove the wolf back. "Fell--!"

Too late. The swordsman surged to his feet, driving his blade up between Felan's ribs before Shyla managed to smack her staff down over his wrist. He screeched, and she heard the crunch of breaking bone as he collapsed back, but the damage was done.

With a wordless cry, she swung her staff around to crack against the side of his head--she honestly didn't care if he was dead or unconscious as she caught Felan around the middle with one arm and felt for the wound with her other hand.

"Oh gods," she whispered. "Oh gods, are you okay?" Stupid question, stupid, stupid, stupid!

[MadEmperor]

"It's not that ba--" Fell coughed up blood, his legs collapsing beneath him. His sword clattered to the ground as his full weight settled on her.

"Okay... maybe it is..." he admitted, wheezing between words.