Preparing for the storm

JP with Lorem, Lucian, Zeeke, Omni and Bandorchu

Gonyaul gritted his teeth through the agonizing soreness and pain to crane his head up to Amu. His horse was weakly walking off without him, drawn to the search for water and leaving its rider behind. Gonyaul didn’t care to go after her. Amu had brilliantly done her job, and beyond, with the inexperienced rider making it more difficult.

Gonyaul noticed not far from him Wim laying also on the ground. Unlike Gonyaul curled up on his side, Wim was facing up to the heaven. The Vauxian could tell Wim’s stitches must have come loose by the amount of red seeping through his bandages. Wim needed someone to get him to Nicolaus, something they had discussed back in the ruins of Maru. With the impending attack on Aquilos though it only made sense that he be the one to do it. The others were just too valuable when it came to combat.

Gonyaul cried out in pain as he tried to roll up to his hands and knees. It felt like every muscle in his body had seized up, protectively tightened and unwilling to release upon command. To make matters worse, his entire body felt numb with a small tingling sensation starting to appear. Gonyaul crumbled back down to the ground.

He called out to Wim in his raspy voice, “Good Wim, coming to bring you to Nicolaus.” He tried rising again and once again clenched his teeth as he collapsed over sideways this time.

Each subsequent attempt failed; however, each failure brought a little progress. Gonyaul began crawling, as if moving through thick tar, towards Wim.

“Coming promise.” He reminded.

It was a pathetic sight. Like watching someone trying to do whatever it took to move a body that wasn’t responding correctly. Gonyaul could feel the tingling growing in his numb limbs, which burned, as they were slowly regaining responsiveness.

Wim rolled and the stitches pulled
The mare climbed up slowly but stood on her own. Wim watched the strength she had. He knew he had to move too so he headed for Gonyaul at a crawl.
Wim's mouth was dry but ge called for anyone to help them. A younger clansmen came to their aid picking them up to a standing position one in each arm.

Unfortunately for Wim he had to use his bad leg to hold his weight. He moaned as the pain shot fresh like lightning through his body.

Gonyaul suddenly felt himself get lifted off the ground as if he weighed nothing. A taller man placed him on his feet, causing Gonyaul to wince as the sensation of pressure in his sleeping feet was uncomfortable. He had sensation back in his limbs down to his knees and elbows.

He looked at Wim, using the helping man for support. “We go Nicolaus.” Catching their helpers attention he pointed in the direction of Nicolaus’s wagon, if it still remained at their previous campsite he hoped.

As they started moving Gonyaul was regaining his feet and hands. When he did so, he removed himself from the equation and allowed the clansman to aid Wim exclusively.

Gonyaul stumbled like a toddlers balancing on new legs for several yards, falling a little behind the other two. Within the next twenty feet though he was finally moving normal again and caught up, supported Wim on the other side, and helped direct them the rest of the way.

The two men managed to get to Nicolaus' camp sight. The town's call to arm and commotion had made its way to all of the residents, guests and those who called this home.

Tarmen, after a moment of wishful thinking that he might rest, came to his senses and pushed himself onward.
Rest when you’re dead, wasn’t that the old saying?
Taking a deep breath to help wake and steel his nerves, Tarmen guided his horse to Alexis.
“I brought a small group of soldiers here, care to help gather them?”

“No rest for the wicked. Let’s go.“

Alexis grimly nodded and joined Tarmen. This wasn’t going to be fun.

With two horses, they could cover more ground through the camp. Tarmen directed Alexis to where the men would eat, some of the men loved to loiter there, while he found where they slept. He assumed with his absence that the men had taken advantage of the free time and he was partially rewarded for his doubts in them.
A swift reprisal and one man’s rear one kick sorer, he left to meet Alexis in case the men gave her grief.

Finding her share of lounging soldiers, Alexis gave a sharp whistle on her fingers that easily caught the attention of the assembled men.

Without a thought she adapted the posture and tone she had been accustomed to back when she had been leading drills in Ostiarium as she bellowed:

“Enemy attack incoming. Assemble at the center for further directives.”

Their training had most of them reacting to the tone of authority before their heads could catch up, and the rest of them seemed to reevaluate thoughts of obstinacy when they met the gaze of the battered, but well-armed and determined looking woman.

The settlement had a quick moment of action, soldiers running to gather gear before gathering at what counted for a center.
Tarmen met Alexis on the way, the two joining the organized lines.
Dismounting with a wince, Tarmen did his best to smooth it out by barking orders.
“As you know, we will be under attack at any moment. Luckily, most of the town isn’t valuable or holding anythin’ of value.”
He stepped away from his horse to point towards the forges and the buildings used to hold materials and weapons alike.
“Any metal lost to these raiders is metal they will use to kill those that survive. You will not let them take any, am I clear? Those buildings will be our initial holdin’ point. I so not want to see any one of you leavin’ them unless given a direct order from myself, Arbiter Voah, or Greyriver here, understood?”
The soldiers called out in acknowledgment, many saluting, but the rest simply calling out.
“Now move! No time to waste.”
Another burst of activity surrounded Tarmen and Alexis as he gathered himself back on his horse.
“Alright once we meet back with Voah, we need to cobble some sort of defence plan, eh?”

Alexis swung herself up on her horse, ignoring her protesting limbs as well as she could.

“Gotta be a fast one, too. They probably rested for the night, but that’s a few hours max.”

Gonyaul was able to drop Wim off with Nicolaus. He did his best to fill the man in on the situation. Nicolaus humored the young man’s attempt to make sense while he dropped what he was doing to immediately start preparing to tend to Wim.

Once Gonyaul was sure that Wim was well situated he dismissed himself. He jogged back, not feeling up to running just yet, to where they first arrived with the horses to try and find one of the others.

The scene was much different then he left it. Soldiers were organizing and all of Aquilos was in motion like an agitated stinger ant colony. Gonyaul was looking around, distracted by all the commotion, to try and find a familiar face. He was very much out of place.

Voah watched Tarmen and Alexis do their thing to ready the miners and they looked to her to be a leader as well, but standing before a large grip of soldiers was never something she had done before.

No steel weapons? No shield wall, no bows. They were up against armed cavalry. Voah was no military strategist but she knew mounted soldiers could spell big trouble for people on foot but she knew the teachings of Vastad, God of War.

There was no telling when the attack would come so planning traps might be out of the question. She almost wanted to tell the men to take shelter in the mines until the oncoming raid had gone but she knew the fear in there eyes. It seemed they were shunning her as evil or cursed. Voah would not give an order to the men against Tarmen’s so she decided to do what she could, though she feared the skirmish may come down to a man. So she tried to give them hope. Or was it for herself?

“Sons of Helias, brothers of Odonine. A force of mounted warriors rides toward us with ill intent.

We stand before you, survivors of Ypogeios. Returned! By the will of the Gods. Be not afraid, for it’s so-called curse and disease is only a trick of the mind.

I call upon the Pillars to grant thee the same protections and resolve that saw us through the long dark.”

She paused to wet her dry mouth.

“As a holy warrior of Vastad, I know a few things about fighting. The best way to defend against a mounted attack is to not be there but since we must, the next best way is to even the odds. Unhorse them and always… keep moving.”

She drew her holy sword and pointed it out over the mass of men who stood before them, expecting some to ignore the her next request.

“I would ask you to kneel and take in these wards to your spirits and bless your weapons, feeble as they may be.

These men come to take from us…

By Vastad, show these raiders we will keep what we have earned through hard labor.

And we will show them by Zin, that we will not give up that which is most precious to us… our very lives. It is our day to decide. Today, by Zin we live!”