Heat of battle

JP with Lorem, Lucian, Omni, Winteroak and Bandorchu

Alexis‘ knuckles turned white around the hilt of her sword as she caught glimpses of the carnage the Odonine miners suffered at the hands of the brigands.

The wish to at least help the few survivors around Markus was nearly unbearable, but she could not even entertain the thought right now as she was battling the brigands storming the forges alongside Tarmen’s soldiers, shouting orders to make use of the cover the buildings provided.

Running on adrenaline that helped to ignore the various cuts and bruises maltreating her body, both old and new, she narrowly avoided a blade aimed to take her head off, whirling around to swing her own sword in retribution.
She connected, though wether fatally or not she could not tell as her target was swallowed by the pandemonium around the forge and she had to face the next attacker.

The brutal ballet had begun. Voah mounted her horse and rode into position to flank oncoming riders at the most open route into their defensive area. She could see the riders overtaking the Odonine miners from her vantage.

'Sometimes doing the right thing is the wrong answer, and other way around' she heard the words of Yan'Dian.

She questioned whether they had made the right or wrong decision.

As the first raiders approached the forge she let loose one stone after another, the first and last stone missed but the second one made contact with a raiders head, hitting him really hard and unhorsing him. The man got to his feet and ran into the fray, but she didn't expect him to last long against Tarmen's men.

To the soldier’s credit, they held firm under the flimsy cover they had. Arrows skittered off of metal or sunk into leather, but so far no losses from the initial volley. The stakes worked for their initial purpose, to keep the horses at bay.
Catching a glimpse of the miner’s slaughter was not as satisfying as he at first thought, though they had made for a quick distraction.
Seeing Markus left surrounded was worrisome. He was a hard worker and decent man, not deserving that kind of fate.
A war cry reminded him just how hazardous it would be to get to him as riders began testing the spikes. One man ran to them on foot, eyes crazed as he swung madly. A woman cut him down before returning to formation.
Seeing the horses surround them, he barked a new order.
“If they get close, go for their horses! Cut their legs and ground these bastards, gather any spears you can!”

As Alexis rolled out of the way to avoid the incoming horse an arrow hit her on her calf.

Nearby Tarmen was pierced on his shoulder by one of the wooden darts being launched into the air by the wicked contraption known as an atlatl. He felt bone cracking with the impact.

Voah and Gonyaul escaped the latest volley of missiles.

Voah was off riding on Litany and Alexis and Tarmen were off in thick of the fight as well. Gonyaul was witnessing his first ever real battle and it was terrifying. He had nothing to contribute as he saw arrows fly, horses charging, and weaponry being wielded with rage and skill. In addition, he felt sad. It was a weird emotion he thought to mix with his anxiousness. Sad, that people on both sides were dying. Sad, that their Odenine were getting butchered because of their pride. Sad, that the attackers were dying because of their greed and covetousness.

He suddenly had an out of the box idea, that literally had something to do with small wooden boxes he saw earlier in Nicolaus’s wagon. He took off running at full speed to the mine entrance where the wagon was parked.

Seeing several arrows land in the ground ten feet behind him caused him to dig down deeper and increase his speed.

Alexis snarled as the projectile hit her leg. Sure, why not. Limping it was. She broke off the arrow and looked over to where it had come from. Those archers had to go, somehow.

She hobbled over to the cover of the forge, aiding a struggling soldier by grabbing a rider‘s leg and pulling him down by applying her whole weight to it. Crashing to the ground together, the brigand swiftly fell victim to her ally’s blades as she was helped back onto her feet.

The soldier offered her cover as best they could as she switched to her bow again and began to pelt the opposing archers with arrows of her own.

Tarmen couldn’t feel the hit at first after he had cut one cocky riders horse down at the leg. It kept the others back as they finished off the rider, but that meant it would be harder to get them close enough to attack.
He was thinking of using the forges, maybe he hot coals? He had seen some small bits of slag lying around and was pondering-
His first clue of being hit was the momentum swinging his shoulder with the impact. His next was the crunch of bone.
Then the pain came. He had to stabilize himself on a post as a wave of nausea smashed into him, then he actually saw the projectile. A short spear was now lodged in his shoulder and he immediately felt his right arm going numb. Not dead yet, but it would be pointless to wield a blade.
He called a soldier to him as he positioned the shaft against the pole he was on.
“Take my blade and cut that as close as you can to my shoulder. Don’t hit the damn thing.”
A tense thunk later and he only had a nub of wood facing out, with the head of the spear still budging out the back, his armor slowing it enough to unfortunately not pass through.
Trying to take step was agonizing, any movement from his arm bringing searing pain. An improvised sling would be needed and he set to work on it. As he did so, Alexis joined their cover.
“Any clue how to be rid of those archers Greyriver?”

Thigh muscles ached in rebuttable, the brief respite wasn't enough to allow her to recover from the fierce day's ride. A volley of arrows just barely missed her and Litany and with the horde approaching in greater numbers, she wanted to be able to maneuver a bit more freely.

She clung to the reigns, her sword drawn by this point as she dueled a raider. They were trading blows, each of them missing until Voah kicked out at the horse and swung twice, felling a warrior with two slashes across the man's weapon arm and upper chest.

She rode off a little toward the mine and dismounted, giving Litany a good swat to continue. Then she quickly returned on foot and grabbed a bow and quiver from a fallen archer who had tried his luck from a side angle. She threw the across her shoulder and continued, finding a spear to use as a secondary weapon and improvised shield. She saw that her friends had been hit with misfortune so she put herself between them and the enemy.

Alexis let another arrow fly, this one finding its target.

Her muscles were aching and her palms screamed in pain from the cut and rope burn she retained so very shortly before, but she forced herself to continue. She heard Tarmen’s question as she focused on her next target.

“Take horses, take anything that can double as a shield. Get them into close quarters fighting.”

Another arrow flew from her string.

Pulling his sling tight, Tarmen had a thought. He would need a horse, but then he might be able to reach the archers.
Gods he wished he had some Rage Root on him. Pretty common in Kru’ll, it could make a weary man into a demon of carnage. At the moment, everything hurt, his shoulder pounded, and he had to doubt what use he would be once he got up there.
Deciding to see for himself rather than cry about it, he took three other soldiers to go with him.
“Greyriver, tend the forge while I’m gone will ya?”
Without waiting for her response, he left to see if any horses remained nearby.