Foolish, Unexpected, and Strange

- -The Bramble Wood,
Very Near Jocelynn's Inn,
Early Morning, 1 DSTR- -

Ceriden cursed under his breath as Gareth did exactly what he was hoping the vampire wouldn't do, namely, run into a clump of armed men without any weapons. Even worse, Gareth decided to feast on his chosen target right in front of his two companions. What was he thinking?!

Actually, Ceriden knew exactly what he was thinking: He wasn't thinking anything at all. He had let his hunger and his instincts think for him, and now, there was a likely chance that Gareth would pay for that mistake with his life.

For a moment, as the remaining soldiers hesitated, Ceriden thought that perhaps Gareth had gotten away with murder. Then one of soldiers recovered from his shock and laid Gareth low with a blow from his sword. Ceriden began to incant another lightning spell, but it would be far too late to save Gareth from the soldier's wrath.

Then something unexpected happened. The green-haired soldier, instead of laying into Gareth with more sword-blows, chose instead to cast a stream of lightning at the fallen vampire. This caused Ceriden to pause. He had not forseen any of the soldiers being mages. He would have to be careful.

And then something even more unexpected happened. The remaining soldiers started bickering, and the argument quickly became violent. Ceriden decided to refrain from casting his spell, for once he did, he would probably become the bad guy again. Instead, he waited to see how the fight would turn out as he and his illusionary copies silently took up positions around the combatants.

The fight ended with the green-haired soldier plunging his sword into the blonde-haired one. With his once-companion-now-mortal-enemy defeated, the green-haired soldier lay down on the ground, apparently forgetting about Ceriden.

"I see you've taken care of everything already."

Ceriden glanced over his shoulder and was barely able to make out some of Erik's form through the gloom. "Believe it or not, I didn't do much of anything," he replied telepathically.

"So what now?"

"We finish this..."

Ceriden, his illusions, and Erik approached the remaining supine soldier. Seeing that the soldier didn't seem to be in the mood to continue the fight, Ceriden reached out into the soldier's mind and telepathically whispered, "What was that all about?"