Just A Flesh Wound [Lion]

[Nightmare]

OOC: Tags to @Lion



Two targets, both to be eliminated. The first is a Mordecai captain named Dougal Smith, who was rumored to be in the small town of Rivercrest. This was the easier target and the one that Nyssa was to eliminate first. The second target was to be revealed by her employer's contact in Rivercrest once the first was disposed of, though she was warned in advance he would be much more challenging than her first target. Nyssa had no idea who this contact was, either, only where she was to meet him when she had completed her task. She was also told to bring Dougal's ring, a silver ring with a ruby in it, as proof that he was dead.

Nyssa was currently waiting about a half hour down the road from Rivercrest. Captain Dougal was supposed to be leaving down the path that day at sunrise, according to her employer's contact. The first signs of light were just starting to show and Nyssa got into position. She had positioned herself off the road behind a large tree. To one side of the tree there was heavy shrubbery. From the other one could clearly see the road wile still being mostly hidden. Behind her was an open valley, but there was nothing she could do about that. This was the best hiding place she could find. The area didn't get more densely covered with forests until another hour or two down the road and she didn't want any chance of missing her target.

Now it was just a waiting game. As the sun began to become more and more visible of the horizon, Nyssa began to faintly see the silhouettes of what appeared to be four people coming down the road. Her target was supposed to be traveling alone but that didn't mean her information wasn't off, so she kept a close watch to see who they were.

Sure enough as the people came closer it was clear to tell that they were four Mordecai. The one walking in the very back matched the description she was given of Captain Dougal Smith perfectly. A relatively tall man with black hair that was beginning to turn gray, though he didn't appear to be older than his late thirties. He had a halberd on his back, as Nyssa had been told he would. As he got even closer Nyssa saw his final defining characteristic, a scar across his right eye. This was no doubt the man she was looking for.

Now the only problem was that there were three other Mordecai when Nyssa had originally anticipated for him to be alone. She couldn't fire off enough shots fast enough to get them all before she was spotted. Her options were to eliminate them all with one shot, or get as many as she could before starting to run. She had no doubt they would chase after her, so that was not an issue.

She couldn't afford to let the men get any closer, so she decided it was time to act. Leaning out around the side of the tree Nyssa raised her rifle. A ball of orange and red fire formed at the front of the barrel and Nyssa fired off an incendiary round. The ball of fire launched forward, but her magic was detected. Captain Dougal stopped and commanded his men to halt, though the two in the very front were too far ahead. The shot made contact just in front of the first two men and exploded, leaving them nothing more than charred corpses.

"Shit." Nyssa whispered to herself as she took of running, starting to count in her head. One... Two... Three... It was clear that she had already been spotted so she had no other option. After a few seconds she looked back to see the two other men chasing after her. They were slowly gaining on her and she knew she wouldn't be able to outrun them forever. Nine... Ten!

Nyssa jumped and turned around to face the Mordecai chasing her. While still in the air she pointed her rifle at the one remaining Mordecai who wasn't the Captain and fired off a piercing round, connecting with the center of his chest and causing him to fall forward. Three down.

The Captain was almost in range of her now and with her rifle cooling down she didn't have many options. Once he had finally reached her, Dougal stabbed out at her with his halberd, connecting directly with her right thigh. Out of desperation, Nyssa pointed her rifle directly at the Mordecai's head. Even though she knew she couldn't fire a shot, he didn't. Preparing to block the magic attack Dougal backed off for a second. In that moment Nyssa grabbed her dagger and pushed herself forward, connecting the blade with Dougal's throat and leaving him dead.

Nyssa looked down at her leg for the first time now. It was a pretty bad wound and it sure as hell hurt. She needed to get it taken care of right away. She leaned down and picked up Dougal's ring, whispering profanities as the pain surged through her leg, then limped her way back to the road. Hopefully someone would be passing by who could be of assistance to her.

[Lion]

No, he did not favor much the unbeaten path.  He wasn't sure how he felt about more traveled roads either.  But with the war as harsh as it was, he wanted to stay as far away from the fighting as possible.   So he would take that path less trodden, where the grass was still wild on either side and the bucks and birds still roamed in wary herds and flocks.

He had places to be after all, patients to tend to.  People to heal if they deserved it.  And those that didn't?  Severus did not want to think about that right now.  There was a lot on his mind and he could not afford such negativity to distract him from his mission.

There would be a time and a place for that.

Severus remained steady as he tread lightly on the road, his robes feeling hot beneath the sun, but it was nothing new.  He adjusted the mask on his face,  rubbing the lenses with the cloth of his sleeve.  That's funny, that smudge wasn't there before.

Wait, that wasn't a smudge.  In fact it moved.  Severus froze until he pushed the mask up from his face, and let his eyes focus.  And when he saw it move again, he dropped it back down on his face and he continued his pace.

But it was quickened now as he saw the figure was indeed a person, and indeed still alive.  He stepped a little more quickly when he saw them through the brush and he dropped to his knees.  He poked her shoulder.  "Miss?  Miss!  You're injured."

Of course he was completely stating the obvious.  And hadn't yet seen the other bodies that lingered up ahead.  Until he looked up of course.  But being as she was still clinging to life and bleeding all over the road, she was priority at hand.

[Nightmare]

Nyssa had been looking down at her leg while she forced herself to continue on, slowly, towards the road, but looked up when she heard the man's voice. She had lost a lot of blood and was starting to feel light headed. She also knew she had to be careful here. If the man was in support of the Mordecai and found out what just happened, she would be in deeper trouble. For now, she needed to get her leg healed, no matter what it took. There would be time to explain after.

"This?" Nyssa said in response, before adding, "Can't even feel it."

She smiled and attempted to laugh, but instead let out a grunt of pain. "The son of a bitch stabbed me. I have to admit," she paused, interrupted by another pained moan, "I didn't expect him to actually connect with my leg."

[Lion]

It was just her luck that he didn't care about the bodies on the road.  As far as he knew they were lifeless, and the one that still clung to it was what mattered most.  He turned over to her side and examined the wound.  "It's a nasty gash," he said, frowning beneath his mask.  "I can fix it.  But the road is no place for such transfers.  Let us get you to proper civilization, good lady.  My name is Severus, I am a doctor.  Let me help you to your feet."

[Nightmare]

Something struck her as odd when the man used the word "transfers" to talk about fixing her leg, mostly just because she had never heard that term used in this situation before. However she didn't think about it for long. Her priority was getting to the town anyway.

"Very well. The town isn't far down the road from here." She paused, interrupting herself with a groan of pain as the man helped her get back to her feet and regain her balance. "I appreciate the help."

[Lion]

Severus patiently waited for her to gather what strength she had so that he could throw his arm over her shoulder, and let her hang onto him where necessary.  He supported what weight she needed held and he began to long arduous path down the road.  He saw those bodies getting closer, but he said nothing, and in fact pretended he didn't notice them.  He felt tension in her body.

"Careful not to tense up too much, you'll upset your leg and any remaining muscle intact.  We do not want to damage any more than necessary," he said in a gentle tone.  He put a firm hand at her waist.  "I'm certain you had a very good reason to defend yourself."

[Nightmare]

It was relieving to hear that the man wasn't concerned with the bodies, even if he didn't know the full story. Still, it was too risky to outright tell the man that she was the one who had fired first. Nyssa wasn't sure if that opinion would change knowing that she was hunting the Mordecai for a bounty, or that she was a mage.

She was able to relax a little more now, though. At first she had still been mostly trying to walk on her own, using the man as support as little as possible. Now she was relying on him a little bit more. She knew he was right about using the leg too much and she wanted to prevent any further damage as well.

"Someone running at you with a weapon is as good a reason as any, right?" Nyssa said with a soft laugh in response to the man's comment. "Most people would have done the same, though I can't say most would have offered their help as you have."